


Artificial Lover

by Kairousels



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2018-07-24 11:55:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 31,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7507348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kairousels/pseuds/Kairousels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jongin hates Kai with all of his life and Kai's beginning to think he's deserving of his brother's horrible treatment. That is, until he meets Kyungsoo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. More Than Nothing

**Author's Note:**

> insp. by Genesis to Eschaton. if you haven't read it, go read it when you can. it's absolutely beautiful

 

  
  


Jongin is eight years old when he witnesses the brutal death of his twin brother.

It was a normal day, the two not having a care in the world and just going out to kick their soccer ball around. Their parents, for once, were going to let the two boys have some alone time and told them not to run too far from home. Both had jumped on their bikes as soon as they could and took off towards the abandoned parking lot nearby, deciding to meet up with a few friends to hopefully form a team.

But they never made it.

Kai had been trying to show off in front of his brother, attempting to pop a wheelie with his front tire, when the bike chain snapped. His bike lost control and he went tumbling to the ground, his body rolling into the street. Jongin had slammed on his brakes and stumbled off of his bike, running over to his brother immediately. He froze, though, when he saw a speeding car approaching. Kai hadn't seen it, he was too focus on his scraped up hands and knees to move out of the way. Jongin screamed and ran into the road as well, but was too late.

When he was older, Jongin was told the man who murdered his brother was severely intoxicated at the time and didn't even see them. In fact he kept driving even when he hit the two of them. Jongin was lucky. He escaped with minimal damage, only a broken wrist and a severely bruised torso. His brother, though, was another story.

His head was severely concussed, some of his ribs shattered. Blood matted his hair at the side and some even came out of his ears.The worst part was that he didn't even die right away. He just laid there, unable to move anything and stared at Jongin. Jongin had crawled over to him to try to hold him, but Kai yelped the moment he tried to touch him. He remembers thick tears gathering in Kai’s eyes, flowing down his face rapidly. He tried to smile at Jongin the best he could, but all that came out was a severe grimace. Jongin was screaming for help, screaming for Kai to just hold on. He sobbed when Kai tried to speak, his brother only coughing up blood.

People had frantically gathered around by then, calling for help and attempting to stop the bleeding from Kai's head. Kai tried to speak again even though his brother begged him not to, that help was on the way and he should just save his energy. All that came out was a hushed "I love you nini" before Jongin was surrounded by people, them checking to see if he was hurt as bad as his brother. He tried to push them, not wanting to take his eyes off Kai for a moment, but soon the ambulance arrived, paramedics rushing them both away.

Jongin reached out from his stretcher to take his brother's hand, holding on for dear life. Kai squeezed his hand in return, but closed his eyes.

It was then that he watched his twin brother, his best friend, his other half, take his last breath.

It was then that he would feel Kai's grip loosen slowly in his hands as his body went limp.

It was then that a part of Jongin died as well.

 

 

✨

  
  
  


Jongin is nine years old when he first meets Kai.

No. Not his brother.

The accursed robot that his parents had made so he wouldn't have to miss his Kai anymore.

He looked just like him, even had the scar on his chin from when a girl in their kindergarten class threw a rock at him as a joke. They looked the same down to the tee. In fact, when Jongin first saw him, he started sobbing in fear. That thing wasn't his brother. That thing is an abomination.

It hurt to look at his ‘brother's face knowing that it's nothing but synthetic fiber to make itself look and feel like real skin. Jongin half expected it's eyes to flash different colors or have the pupil shrink and expand dramatically like that of a camera lense. That's what he's seen on the other robots he's come across. But Kai was different. Kai was the first of his kind, made to look and act just as any other human does. An AI unit, as the thing called itself. He felt like throwing up at the thought, especially when his parents even told him that the thing would age just as he would, that way they could grow up together just like real brothers.

But Jongin doesn't want this replacement. He wants his real brother. He wants his Kai.

The thing reached out to touch him the first time they met, possibly to comfort him since it was pretty obvious the other was hurting, but Jongin ran away before he could find out.

He slams the door to his once shared room with his brother and throws himself on Kai's old bed, sobbing into the pillow and ignoring his parents calling for him at the door. He hugs the pillow to his face, almost smothering himself so he could block the screams that rack through him.

His parents wanted to give him his brother again, but all they gave him was pain. The pain he was just finally accepting in his heart.

Kai is gone. His parents just gifted him a ghost.

  
  


✨

  
  


Kai never really understood much about Jongin no matter how hard he tried. He knows what happened to Jongin's real brother. He read about it in an article once and felt like his heart was going to be ripped out. He can't imagine what Jongin is going through, the severity of the situation for him. Kai may not know what it's like to lose someone he loves- he doesn't even know what love is- but all he does know is that he wants to be by Jongin's side. His parents say that his job is to take care of Jongin and to make him smile, he was programmed to do so, but Jongin doesn't want any of it.

Most of their childhood together is spent with countless screaming from Jongin and even more from their parents. Kai had always stood there quietly, observing, because he doesn't understand. He never understands.

Kai would do something small, like ask how Jongin's day at school was since Kai was always left at home to take care of the house, and the other would lash out at him and tell him to leave him alone. Kai would never do anything in return, just nod and dejectedly lock himself in his room and read. Their parents, however, would not let it go so easily. Countless times they would forcibly drag Jongin to Kai's room to apologize, each time resulting in Kai's heart shattering from the comments Jongin makes.

‘He’s not even real.’

'He’s just a robot. He doesn’t even have any feelings! It’s all code.'

'Why should I be apologizing? He should be apologizing to me for looking just like my dead brother.'

It's always the same, hurt feeling Kai carries in his chest when he lays down to recharge himself for the night. He knows what he is, that he was not born the same way Jongin was and that they weren't actually brothers, but it still makes Kai curl in on himself whenever he receives so much as a glare from his twin. They are brothers in his mind, his programming says so. But this is not how brothers should treat each other. Not according to the countless dramas and movies Kai’s seen over the years.

He figures the best thing to do is just to keep trying to reach out until something changes.

  
  


✨

  
  


Kai is in the middle of recharging when he is abruptly awoken to the sound of his father yelling in the kitchen. He creeps out of his room and peeks down the hallway to get a glance at the situation. His father is yelling at Jongin again, face bright red and his finger pointing down menacingly at his brother.

"How dare you do this to him?! Jongin I thought you were a bigger person than this!" His father held up tufts of hair and when Kai reached up to run his fingers through his own soft locks, he gasped lightly. From the feel of it, it's been cut at weird and seemingly random angles. Jongin must have sneaked into his room while he was recharging and did it. He honestly didn't do anything to irritate the other boy today, only doing his homework for him when he was out for his friends for a bit. He figured it was the least he could do. If he can't make Jongin smile, then spending time with his friends can and if he doesn't have any homework, then that means he can be with his friends even longer.

Apparently Jongin doesn’t seem to care though.

When Jongin was about to retort, probably to say something that would end with another argument, Kai steps out and clears his throat. Both look at him, his father with a pitied look and his brother with pure hatred.

Kai fiddles with his fingers. "I told him to do it."

His father's eyes bug out of his sockets.  "What?"

Jongin stares at him then, his glare diminishing to a blank look.

Kai looked back at him nervously. "I wanted a new haircut and I told him to cut it. I kept not liking it and eventually we ended up taking off too much. I'm sorry father, I didn't mean to get Jongin in trouble. It was my fault, really."

Their father hesitates. "Kai is this true?"

Kai nods frantically. "It is father, I promise."

His programming is built so he cannot lie so their father believes him right away. There's a fault in this, though, that his parents don't know about. He can lie only when it comes to Jongin. He was born to make him happy and he knows deep inside, past that angry and rebellious facade, Jongin is hurt and Kai wants to protect him in any way he can.

Their father apologizes profusely to Jongin and says that he will hear him out next time before jumping to conclusions. Jongin wordlessly nods and both twins watch as their father walks out of the room. Jongin glares at him again.

"What the fuck was that?" They're thirteen now so Jongin's vocabulary has definitely expanded and he loves to use these new words on Kai when their parents aren't around to hear. Kai doesn't understand them. Apparently it just means Jongin's angry with him, but that's really nothing new.

Kai shrinks under his brother's intense stare. "I didn't want you to get in trouble," he says, his voice small and soft.

Jongin raises an eyebrow. "You just lied to Dad. Are abominations like you even allowed to lie?"

Kai feels his heart ache when he hears 'abomination' slip out of his brother's mouth. He's never liked that word. It cuts him right to the core every time Jongin uses it. "You were going to get yelled at again so I..." he pauses and Jongin stays silent, waiting for the other to finish. Kai gulps. "I don't want mother and father to be mad at you. You deserve their love, not their frustration."

Jongin seems shocked at that and takes a step back even though the two of them are on opposite sides of the kitchen. "Y-You really mean that?"

Kai smiles at him softly, arms folding at his chest like he's trying to close in on himself. "I just want you to be happy, Jongin."

Jongin stares at him with a bewildered look but quickly composes himself, pointing at him and giving him a disgusted look. “I’m not stupid so I don’t need your help. Stay away from my homework or next time I’ll shave that synthetic head of yours.”

Kai cringes and wordlessly nods, watching his brother stomp back to his room on the other side of the house.

Jongin doesn't say anything to him for the rest of the night and oddly enough, Kai is okay with that. He's used to his brother giving him the cold shoulder by now, but he feels like this is different. It's during the next night he's reading his favorite book, that Jongin hesitantly comes into his room and closes the door behind him. Jongin sits on his bed and roughly shoves a piece of paper in front of his face.

"You made me get a 100 on my take home quiz for math and now my teacher thinks I actually understand this shit. Tell me how to do it so I don't look like a total idiot now."

Kai blinks and takes in the flustered look on Jongin's face, the way he is avoiding eye contact and flushing a faint pink at his cheeks and the tips of his ears. Kai just smiles because maybe this is Jongin's way of reaching out. He gently takes the paper from his brother's hands. "It's not too hard once you get it, you just apply this formula here and...."

Kai spends hours teaching Jongin the math concepts, feeling satisfied once he was able to do them on his own. Jongin's small, accomplished smile at the end of finishing his homework made Kai's heart flutter. He's never seen the other smile before, only in family pictures dated long before the accident. He even looks to Kai himself and continues smiling, giving a small 'thanks' before leaving.

Kai goes to recharge that night with thoughts of Jongin's beautiful grin on his mind. Maybe now they can finally be the brothers they were meant to be.

 

✨

  
  


Jongin hates the thing he is forced to call Kai. He is not Kai. He'll never be Kai.

Kai was buried in the ground along with half of Jongin's heart.

That freak of nature thinks they are better friends now, and Jongin has to admit he tends to not yell at him as much as he used to, but they are nowhere close to friendship. It's unbearable to even look at Kai without either breaking down into tears or wanting scream in anger. There is never an in between.

It's their birthday today and they are both turning sixteen- or at least Jongin is sixteen. Kai doesn't even have a proper age, just a damn packaging date.

Their parents are forcing him to celebrate his birthday with his 'twin', even telling him to invite his friends over from school. Originally his parents wanted the large group he hangs out with to come over so Kai could possibly have friends as well but Jongin didn't even bother inviting them. Only, instead, inviting the selective few even know about Kai, the real Kai, and about the carbon copy of him that cleans the house all day while he and his parents are out. The one that seems to do nothing but  reads inspirational quotes to him whenever he thinks Jongin is feeling down. The one that thinks he’s actually a part of Jongin’s family when he’s not.

And he never will be, in Jongin’s books.

Kai seemed ecstatic about the party and even went through all the trouble to decorate the entire house. Jongin was surprised to come home from school the night before the party to find balloons and signs all over the house, all accented in his favorite color- a royal blue. Jongin felt guilt gnaw at his heart- a feeling he's been getting lately when he knows he's going to end up disappointing Kai- when he saw Kai jumping from foot to foot, gushing about the party. Jongin had trouble swallowing when he saw Kai even remembered his favorite cake. The robot has such a heartwarming smile when he shows it to him that it makes Jongin sick to his stomach.

He mistakes the feeling as disgust.

Jongin just shakes his head and silently goes to his room, not missing how Kai's shoulders slump in defeat.

"He's a robot," Jongin tells himself once his bedroom door is closed. "He can't actually feel anything." He grabs the photo frame sitting on his desk and strokes the picture with his thumb, the bright smiles of he and his real twin making his heart ache in an unbearable way.

He remembers synthetic Kai's heartwarming smile when he walked into the kitchen a few moments ago and tears up. "Then why does it seem so real?"

  
  


✨

 

To say Kai was excited for their birthday is an understatement. He was beyond happy the morning of and even skipped a few hours of recharging in favor of preparing the food. His parents chuckled at him over their cups of coffee, but he paid no mind, happily singing as he cooked and did last minute cleaning so everything would be spotless. It was when he finished sweeping the floor for the millionth time, did his parents tell him to go wake up Jongin, to which he hesitated.

The last time he did that, Jongin threw a paper weight at his eye and he had to go into the shop for repairs. It was not a pleasant experience, especially when his synthetic blood got all over his mother's pristine white carpets. His parents, though, give him soft words of encouragement until he leaves around the corner. He stands outside the door cautiously and presses the button on the wall, the door sliding open quietly. He finds his brother asleep at his desk, a photo frame propped up in front of him. Kai gives a small smile at the sight of a young Jongin smiling up at the camera next to Kai- the Kai he can never be.

He gives a dejected sigh at the thought, looking to Jongin. He looks so kind and sweet when he sleeps, his face relaxed and not in it’s usual scowl he's so used to seeing. His brother is quite beautiful, if he was being honest. Sure they look almost exactly alike, but there is a certain look to Jongin that just makes him seem more alive, more human. Kai feels a small spark of jealousy. He really wishes he could be seen the same way.

He gently shakes Jongin’s shoulders, the other boy not really stirring from his sleep besides giving a small grumble and doing some shifting. Kai sighs. “Jongin?” he says softly, his brother’s eyes fluttering open at the sound of his voice.

Jongin looks at him groggily. “Kai?”

Kai smiles. “Happy birthday Jongin.”

Jongin doesn’t move. He sits there frozen, his eyes welling up with tears. Kai immediately goes to apologize for whatever he did to upset his twin but gets tackled to the ground. Jongin wraps his arms around him tightly, sobbing into his shoulder.

“Kai. You’re here. Y-You came back,” he gives a choked off sobs, holding Kai closer. Kai swallows thickly and hugs him back tightly. He doesn’t know what to do or say until their parents come rushing in at the sound of Jongin’s cries. When Jongin detaches himself from Kai and moves to hug his mother instead, Kai slips out of the room. He takes a quick glance at his family all sitting on the floor crying together.

His heart is heavy when he closes the door to give them privacy. Instead, he walks out of the house and down to the nearby park.

Kai had never had a great relationship with Jongin, that much is true, but the same can sometimes be said for their parents as well. They are such kind people and treat them just as they do Jongin, spoiling him and praising him when he does good.They are loving people who look at him with pride, but sometimes Kai can see their glazed eyes stare at him from afar. He was meant to bring Jongin joy, but he knows his parents need their own sort of source of happiness too. Kai tries, he really does, but behind those loving smiles he can still see the longing and sadness hidden beneath. They are the only people to have ever treated him like a real person with real feelings, but he knows they are still in pain and sometimes Kai can’t help but to feel like he is only prolonging it by simply existing.

He lets a few tears fall once he sits on the lone bench, shoulders shaking as he holds his face in his hands. The air is cold and a blanket of fresh snow lay on the ground, but Kai doesn’t even seem to notice.

He feels like a walking corpse.

He was made to bring joy to his family, but just seems to bring them suffering instead. He lets out a small sob.

Why can’t they just see him for him? That he is his own person? That he is not just a robot, not their Kai, but just him. This Kai exists too. He exists too. He exists too-

“Jongin? Is that you?”

Kai looks up, eyes swollen and red with tears falling rapidly down his cheeks. He sees a boy with wide eyes and beautiful alabaster skin, his eyebrows full and his hair styled up and back. He’s a very beautiful human. Beautiful like his brother. The small amount of red biting at his cheeks from the cold wind just makes him look even more appealing in Kai’s eyes.

The boy gives him a worried look. “Jongin, why are you crying?”

“N-not Jongin,” Kai chokes out, still shaking from letting all of his pent up emotions finally get to him.

The boy tilts his head. “Jongin this isn’t funny. What are you even saying?”

Kai shakes his head, taking a few deep breathes to calm his aching chest.  “I’m Jongin’s bro-” He cuts himself off, afraid to tell this stranger anything that might possibly upset his twin. Kai looks down, gaze ashamed. Jongin would probably just call him an abomination if he ever introduced him to people. He doesn’t even consider them brothers at all.

“Ah! Kai right? Sorry, you and Jongin just look so alike that I thought you were playing a prank on me.”

Kai looked up at the boy, holding his breath momentarily. Jongin talks about him? “You know me?”

The boy nods. “Jongin and I were in grade school together. We never really talked- still don’t actually- but uhm. He did a project on you once, I think we were like five or six but I remember it. It’s not every day you see a pair of identical twins.” Ah, so he talked about his real brother. Kai grips onto his shirt a little tighter to stop the tears. He doesn’t even know why he had hope.

The boy sees his reaction and immediately sits beside him. “ Hey,, hey hey! It’s okay! I’m sorry I upset you again. I didn’t mean to.” Kai looks to the boy on his left, surprised when the other reaches out to put a comforting hand on his back. “I’m Kyungsoo by the way. Do Kyungsoo.”

Kai chokes on his words. He stares at Kyungsoo in wonder, tears still falling.

Kyungsoo gives him a concerned look. "Why are you so upset, Kai?" He reaches up to brush some of Kai's fringe from his eyes. Kai's heart leaps at the tender touch. No one's ever done such a thing to him before. “And why are you out here without a coat? Are you crazy?” Kyungsoo takes off his coat to reveal a thick sweater underneath, draping the heavy material over his shoulders.

Kai is so thrown off by the friendliness of the other male that he’s left speechless. He goes to try to answer Kyungsoo but stops short. Kyungsoo is the first real person he's ever met outside of his family besides the random strangers he's talked to when his mother or father bring him to the grocery store. He can't tell him the truth, that he is crying because he just wishes he could be human. Kyungsoo probably doesn't even realize he's an AI Unit.

The thought sparks a bit of hope in him, though, because maybe this is his chance to finally be normal, to have someone that doesn't look at him like he's some sort of monster.

He looks to Kyungsoo hesitantly. "It's my birthday today."

Kyungsoo's eyes go wide. "Then why are you sad? Today's supposed to make you happy."

Kai looks down again, eyes squinting from the intensity of the morning sun. "My brother and I are throwing a birthday party later. I didn't have anyone to invite so I just have Jongin's friends coming over. I was excited to meet them but I just know they're just going to hate me." He knows this for sure. Jongin already told him they know what he is so there's no doubt Kai will end up going to recharge tonight with even more heartache than usual. It’s a shame because Kai was so excited to get a peek into Jongin’s life, at how nice his friends are and what they like to do for fun. He had even prepared a bunch of games for them all to play but it seems that won’t happen now.

Kyungsoo snorts next to him. "No offense to your brother, but his friends are douche bags. You won't be missing much if they don't like you."

Kai blinks. "Douche bag?" The word feels funny on his tongue. He's heard Jongin say that word on the phone before but he's never understood it's connotation.

"Yeah. Like a jerk. You've never heard of it?"

Kai shook his head. "Not really no." He's not really exposed to the outside world that often. He supposes he could become more up to date on what's trending these days but he prefers to have his nose buried in a good book or to practice drawing. Things more reclusive than anything since he really doesn't know how to properly interact with people outside of his family. He's noticed that he tends to make others feel awkward with his formal way of speaking and his limited or outdated knowledge of the world around him.

Kyungsoo stares at him for a few seconds, before chuckling to himself. "Well that's a first. A teenager that doesn't know the term 'douche bag'. That's like the number one vocabulary word used in middle school, how did you even get by without hearing it?"

Kai bites his lip. "I was home schooled." It's not a whole lie. Most of his education programming was done in his home since the technician just stops by every once and a while to give him an updated database. 'Kind of like homeschool,' he thinks, sure of himself.

Kyungsoo gives a light 'ah, makes sense' before letting them fall into silence. Kai shifts a bit, not sure what to do now. Does he try to keep the conversation going? Does he just wait? Maybe he should just leave before he messes everything up-

"You know Kai," Kyungsoo begins, smiling when the other looks up at him, "I could come to your birthday party if you want. I mean, I'm not trying to invite myself or anything but I'm sure you wouldn't want to be alone because knowing Jongin- no offense he's kind of an ass sometimes- and his friends, they'll just go off and be the pack of horny weirdos they always are. I wouldn't mind coming and keeping you company- if you want that of course!. I know we just met and all but-" Kyungsoo stops rambling when he sees Kai's eyes tear up again. "Kai?"

Kai is barely breathing, his body tense. "You would do that for me?" he asks softly.

Kyungsoo blinks a few times before letting out a small laugh. "Of course Kai. You seem really sweet and it'd be a shame for you to be alone on your birthday. It's bad enough you already started it by crying in the park all alone like this."

Kai feels his chest blossom with warmth and he can't stop the smile creeping onto his face. He hugs Kyungsoo from the side, awkwardly pulling the other's body against his. The human goes rigid for a few moments before chucking again, patting Kai's back softly. "You're a strange one, you know that?" Kai pulls away to look at him in alarm, but Kyungsoo just shakes his head and smiles. "I like it. I think it's cute."

Kai feels heat rise in his cheeks and is momentarily thrown off by the sensation. He puts his hands to his face, not understanding why it suddenly feels so warm. Kyungsoo laughs. "Awe, you're blushing."

Kai blinks, the heat steadily getting worse on his cheeks. Blushing? He's never blushed before. This is definitely a new thing to him. Despite it all though, he smiles at Kyungsoo. "So you'll come then?"

"To the party? Of course. What do you like? I'll try to get you a present before I come over."

Kai got silent, thrown off again. "I've never really been given a present before," he says quietly. He's never really asked for anything besides books from his parents, not wanting to take any sort of ounce of happiness from Jongin on their birthday. He knew his brother used to love opening his presents, so he figured that was a gift in itself to see his twin smile.

Kyungsoo gave him a bewildered look. "Never got a present?! Oh my god, I'm going to get you like three now, you just prepare yourself. What do you like?"

Kai was breathless at the other's reaction, not used to someone caring so much about him like this. "I like old stuff. Like old books or old TV shows. I find them interesting."

Kyungsoo grinned. "Well aren't you in luck because my brother owns an antique shop right near here! I'll see if I can find something I think you'll like there. I’m actually heading there now. I would invite you to come but then it won’t be a surprise when I get your presents.”

Kai felt a giddy feeling settle in his chest. “Thank you so much Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo waves his hand. “Not a big deal. So what time is the party? It’d be awkward if I showed up late.”

Kai gives him the proper information and Kyungsoo writes it down in his phone. He asks for Kai’s number and is shocked to find out the other doesn’t even own a phone. Kai just laughs nervously, hoping that it’s not too strange and Kyungsoo gets suspicious. This is his first friend he’s ever had. He can’t mess this up.

Kyungsoo just shrugs it off though, telling he’ll see him later when the party starts. Kai is a little sad to see him go but understands, giving him back his jacket and waving goodbye. Kai just hopes with all his heart that Kyungsoo actually comes tonight and that his family won’t be too upset at him inviting over another person.

He walks back to his house with his head held high, smiling as he replayed the conversation he had with Kyungsoo in his head. His sadness from earlier is put into the back of his mind, only wanting to focus on the here and the now.

 

 

 

 

 

  
  



	2. Gifts and More

 

 

When Kai returns home, everything is back to being seemingly normal. He’s bombarded by his parents, both of them fussing over how cold he feels and how worried they had been. They both just hug him tightly and apologize profusely, his mother lightly scolding him for running out without a jacket. Kai just smiles up at them both, especially when his father ruffles his hair. They both still have a guilty look but Kai just shakes his head, too excited to see Kyungsoo again later that what happened earlier doesn’t even bother him for now.

He walks into the kitchen to see Jongin staring out the window as he slouches over his bowl of cereal at the counter, his shoulders slouched and his eyes red and puffy from crying. His usual scowl is etched onto his face as he sips his orange juice. His twin doesn’t even acknowledge him as Kai steps into the room, hovering there nervously before deciding to just head straight to his room.

Kai figures telling Jongin about his meeting with Kyungsoo may just upset him since Kai did invite the other male over without asking any sort of permission. He sneaks back into his room and bites his lip to contain the small squeal as he grabs his pillow and hugs it to his chest.

He’s going to have a real friend.

A human friend.

Kai looks around at his immaculate room, his eyes widening as he seemingly spots small invisible messes all over. He quickly gets up, grabbing the vacuum from the hallway closet near Jongin’s room. His twin stares at him weirdly when he grabs multiple cleaning supplies as well, dragging them across the house. Kai sees Jongin shake his head before shutting his own door, probably not planning to come out until later when the guests arrive.

His mother giggles at him when he drops a few bottles of cleaning solution. She bent down to help him and gave him a fond, but curious look. “What are you doing Sweetheart?”

Kai beamed up at her as she followed behind him and plopped the different containers on his bare desk. “I have to clean my room for the party Mother!”

His mother tilts her head and smiles. “What are you talking about? This place is practically spotless. You might as well clean the whole house instead,” she joked, chuckling at the end.

Kai blinked and looked around his room. At his now determined look, his mom’s eyes went wide as her son grabbed the hover-sweeper and guided it down the hallways and into the living room area. She peeked her head out of Kai’s door to see a bright grin splayed out on his face as he meticulously wipes every surface of the room of dust as the hover-sweeper darts around behind him, picking up any sort of dirt laying on the polished floor.

Kai’s father blinks at his son and then at his wife in question. She holds her hand to her mouth, trying to contain the snicker.

“Oh dear,” she says. “Looks like I’ve just created a cleaning monster.”

His parents share a few chuckles, but Kai doesn’t pay them any mind, too focused on the microscopic messes that only he is able to see with his special ability to focus and zoom in on certain objects.

Unbeknownst to all of them though, Jongin is watching the scene unfold from the hallway outside of his room, a suspicious frown on his face.

 

✨  
 

 

There are certainly perks to having a lifelike robot walking around, doing household chores that Jongin would usually find a hassle, but Jongin can’t help but to feel his lip curl in disgust as he watches Kai move around the house like some sort of insane housemaid. It’s not that Jongin isn’t happy he isn’t the one being forced to cook and clean for his birthday party, but seeing Kai enjoy it so much gives him a weird feeling inside. Yesterday he had seen the other begin to put up banners and accent the entire living room and dining room with a royal blue, but today Kai just seemed so different- _so happy_ \- and it’s really beginning to make him sick at the thought.

Kai’s always happy, sickeningly so, but this is a whole new level. What does a hunk of metal like him even have to be happy about?

Jongin creeped into Kai’s room while the AI Unit had his back turned. He saw the other male making his bed, the blanket and sheets resting on top of the mattress without a single crease or fold in them. He clears his throat but Kai doesn’t react. When Jongin listens closely, he can hear the faint sound of music as if Kai was wearing earphones. But he isn’t and the fact just makes Jongin even more uncomfortable.

“Kai,” he says a bit loudly. Kai jumps, holding his hands to his chest in surprise. Jongin rolls his eyes. The coding they have done on this AI Unit is beyond amazing. Too bad it’s so damn irritating to deal with.

Jongin gives him a suspicious look. “Why are you cleaning your room?”

Kai bites his lip. “I wanted it clean for your party.” Jongin notices how he never seems to call it ‘our party’ but ignores it for now.

“I hope you know my friends aren’t going to come in your room. Or anywhere near you, that is.”

Kai tilts his head, for once not looking hurt at Jongin’s words. “Of course.” What? “But I should clean it anyway though, right?”

Jongin stands there with his mouth open, not exactly sure what to say since usually the AI Unit would cower at his harshness. Kai just smiled at him before turning his attention to his bookshelf, seeming to organize his books by color instead of in the alphabetical order they were in before. Jongin curls his lip.

What is even going on with Kai today?

Suddenly there is a loud ring from the front door, reverberating throughout the house. Both boys jump, Jongin with surprise and Kai with pure _excitement_. Jongin tongues his cheek as Kai darts to the front door.

Doesn’t he know his friends aren’t going to want to be around him? Is he stupid or something?

  
 

✨

  
 

Kai smiles brightly as Jongin’s friends usher in, his expression faltering a bit when there is no sign of Kyungsoo in the small group of boys. ‘ _He’ll come later,_ ’ he tells himself so that feeling of dread doesn’t seep into his chest. He looks to Jongin’s friends and true enough, Jongin was right when he said it would just be friends that know Kai’s true origins.

One of the boys, Taemin, also known as Jongin’s best friend, has his hair dyed an obnoxious blonde. It’s something Kai has overheard from Jongin as a way of rebelling against his parents. Kai doesn’t understand what the big deal is though. It’s just hair.

The other three are school friends of Jongin’s that have been over multiple times for school projects or to work on dance routines for their team before showcases. Sehun is nothing but nasty, rude comments behind that blank face of his. Kai has never liked him and has always considered him a sort of poisonous friend to Jongin since the other male had gotten his twin in trouble multiple times. But Kai can’t really say much besides sneakily tell their parents if he sees Jongin sneaking out with him, which results in more hatred toward him on Jongin’s part but at least Jongin stays safe. Sehun’s even gotten in trouble with the police once or twice and that’s the last thing Kai wants to happen to his brother.

The last two are typically a tag team pair. Baekhyun and Chanyeol really only come over to spend time with Jongin if it’s the both of them. Chanyeol has known Jongin since grade school and even knew the human version of Kai before the accident. Kai has a sneaking suspicion that that’s one of the main reasons Chanyeol hates him so much. It’s strange, one would think the horrible treatment from his own brother would make him immune to any other negativity but Chanyeol is explicitly harsh with his words, especially if they are caught alone. Once Kai had been in the kitchen making food for Jongin and his friends and Chanyeol purposefully knocked over the pan he was sauteing vegetables in, some of the hot oiling spilling down the front of Kai’s clothes. Luckily, he had an apron on so he didn’t get burnt, but he remembers Chanyeol's boisterous laugh as he scrambled to get the soaked apron off, his taunting ‘ _What are you even freaking out about? You aren’t even real! It’s not like you actually feel pain._ ’ Needless to say, Kai tries to avoid the lanky giant as much as possible.

Baekhyun, on the other hand, is a different story. He is usually very polite, even to Kai, quietly thanking him when Jongin and the others aren’t around for being so hospitable and kind. Kai never makes a big deal out of it, but it warms his heart to hear small compliments rather than constant insults. He can tell, though, that Kai’s presence makes him uncomfortable. Kai sometimes catches him staring at him cautiously from the corner of his eye, like Kai makes him nervous. He’s never said anything about it though, too afraid it will make Baekhyun hate him just as Chanyeol does.

Kai looks at the small group of friends in the foyer and gives a welcoming smile to them all. Taemin and Baekhyun send wary smiles back as they take off their snow crusted boots and place them in the automatic dryer by the front door, but they both pretty much ignore him when he waves from his spot by the coat closet. Kai doesn’t bother directly acknowledging Sehun or Chanyeol, knowing it would only end in some sort of torment.

All of the friends wish Jongin a happy birthday, holding up their many gift bags for him to open later after cake. Jongin just smiles and ushers them in, having them drop off their presents in the dining room before leading them to his room on the other side of the living room. Kai begins to follow behind them with a hopeful face but stops mid-step. They’re going to Jongin’s room and there’s no doubt he’d get a door slammed in his face if he even tried to go with them.

Baekhyun looks over his shoulder and gives Kai an apologetic look, unfortunately catching Chanyeol’s attention in doing so. Chanyeol sneered as he made eye contact with Kai before walking into Jongin’s room. The last thing he hears before the door to Jongin’s room closes is Chanyeol’s booming voice saying _“I don’t know how you can even fucking live with that thing walking around the house everyday like some sort of Goddamn corpse._ ”

Kai looks down, defeated. He stares at his white socks for a bit before letting out a deep sigh. He guesses he could go clean a bit more before Kyungsoo gets here. His mother gives him a worried look as he passes by her spot on the couch. She catches his wrist gently, holding his hand softly between her warm palms when he stops and looks at her.

She gives him a warm, loving smile. “Keep your chin up, sweetheart. Don’t let them get to you. You’re still my son and Jongin’s brother despite what anyone tries to tell you.”

Kai feels his heart tighten, but for once he can’t pinpoint if it’s from a rush of sadness or joy. It’s almost borderline between the two, even as his mother gives him a reassuring squeeze before letting go.

Kai drags his feet to his room, softly closing the door behind him and plopping on his bed. He brings his knees up to his chest and rests his chin there, staring blankly at his stark white walls. He feels almost claustrophobic as he stares at all of the blank colors accenting his room, the several shades of grey and white that once brought him comfort now just makes him feel uneasy.

He needs a change. Maybe adding some color will make him feel better.

  
 

✨

  
 

It’s three hours into the party and their parents have gathered them all around the table to blow out the candles on the cake. Jongin is joking with his friends, only sending a few occasional glances in his twin’s direction but Kai can’t bring himself to look back. He feels tears welling up in his eyes and his toes curling in his shoes, his heart becoming so heavy it’s hard to breathe. He stares down at his lap and plays with his fingers silently.

Kyungsoo still hasn’t shown up. He thought at first maybe he had accidentally given the other male the wrong address but deep inside he knew that wasn’t possible. Kai’s memory database is packed with information and there was no way he could get it wrong unless he was having some sort of malfunction, which he would have known about since certain sensors would have indicated such a problem. He wishes it could have been that simple though. It would have hurt a lot less if he could make such a simple mistake- such a human mistake.

Kai watches himself fiddle with his own fingers anxiously. He doesn’t notice that when his parents leave the room to find some candles for the cake, all of Jongin’s friends get silent. Taemin speaks up, voice wavering slightly as if he’s scared.

“Kai? Are you alright?”

Kai looks up to see everyone looking at him, even Jongin. Most of them have blank looks, except Baekhyun who actually looked a bit concerned. He opened his mouth to assure them that nothing was wrong, but suddenly there is a loud knock at the front door. Kai shot up, uncaring of the loud scraping noise that the chair made when he stood and how all of the boys in the room visibly startled. Kai runs to the foyer, but hesitates at the door. He presses the security monitor screen to his left and a bright picture of someone wrapped tightly in multiple winter scarves and a puffy coat. Kai bites his lip to keep from smiling to hard at the sight of Kyungsoo taking up the whole camera, all bundled up to the point where Kai can only see his eyes. Kai’s gaze flickers to the background and see’s several white specks of snow coming down at a rapid pace. His eyes widen and he opens the door immediately.

The moment Kyungsoo enters the house, his eyes widen and he sputters out incoherent apologies muffled by his scarves. When all Kai does is blink at him, Kyungsoo quickly pulls the scarf down from his lips. “I’m so sorry Kai! I went to my brother’s shop and then he had to drive me here since my mom didn’t want me driving in the snow but then our car broke down. I’m really late aren’t I?”

Hearing this makes Kai suck in a sharp breath as his eyes tear up again. “You came.”

Kyungsoo laughs. “Of course. I promised didn’t I?” The large gift bag in his hands makes a few soft crinkling noises as it jostles against his leg when he takes off his winter coat.

Kai looks at it, eyes sparkling in wonder. “Is that for me?”

Kyungsoo grins at the other’s tone of voice, his voice basically gushing with happiness from just the sight of the bag. “Yeah where are all the presents? I’ll put it with the others.”

Kai hesitated, watching as Kyungsoo took off his boots and set them in the automatic dryer with Jongin’s friend’s shoes as well. “Actually leave it right by the second hall on the left of the living room and we’ll open it together in my room later. I don’t want to take away from Jongin when he goes to open his gifts.”

Kyungsoo halts his movements and makes a face but agrees, dropping the large paper bag off in the spot Kai told him too and grabbing what looked like a small bear plushie. Kai tilts his head in question but figures it’s probably a gift for Jongin, which makes his heart swell. Even Kyungsoo bought something to make Jongin happy today.

Kai goes to bring Kyungsoo into the dining room where all the guests have gathered and sees everyone- including his parents- peeking around the edge at them both. Kyungsoo freezes the moment he spots Kai’s parents and bows deeply.

His mother gives Kai a curious, but happy look. “Kai baby, who is this?”

Kai swallows nervously. “Mother, father, this is Kyungsoo. He is my friend.”

Kyungsoo bows again in respect and smiles at his parents.

Jongin, who’s standing next to his father, blinks at him. “Kyungsoo? What are you doing here?”

Kai momentarily forgot that his twin went to school with Kyungsoo. He inwardly cringes, worried that his brother may get upset and lash out at the fact he introduced Kyungsoo as his friend.

Kyungsoo licks his lips. “I’m here for your birthdays.”

Jongin narrows his eyes. “I don’t remember inviting you.”

He probably doesn’t mean for it to come out as harshly as it did, Kai knows this, but he silently hopes it doesn’t offend or scare off Kyungsoo.

To his surprise, Kyungsoo just smirks at the comment, crossing his hands over his chest. “Okay, I’ll be a little more specific then. I’m here for my friend _Kai’s_ birthday. Your’s just so happens to fall on the same day as his considering you’re twins and all.”

Their mother giggles in the background and their father hides his smirk behind his hand. Jongin looks taken aback, offended even. “You are friends with Kai? Since when? How did you two even meet?”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and shoves the small bear plushie into his face. “Oh just hush and get on with the birthday party. I’m not sure about all of you, but I could really go for some cake right now.”

Kai nervously shuffles back and forth on his feet, afraid Jongin or his parents would lash out him for bringing someone over without permission, especially someone so headstrong and willing to stand up against Jongin’s mean comments, but his mother just smiles. She pats Kai on the back and puts her other hand on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. “He’s right Jongin. We don’t have all night you know. You boys need to blow out the candles so we can eat Kai’s delicious cake.”

Kyungsoo's eyes lit up as he glances up at Kai. “You cook?”

Kai face heats up as he nods, to which Kyungsoo gives a small, bashful smile. Jongin just stares at the two of them with a frown on his face and looks at the bear plushie in his hands with a blank look. “I guess.”

After a few moments he goes to sit down in front of the cake, Kai joining in right next to him. Jongin’s friends all crowd around Jongin, posing for the picture. Kyungsoo stands awkwardly next to Kai before the taller male looks up at him, moving over so he’s on the very edge of the seat and patting it.

Kai’s thigh is touching Jongin, but he doesn’t notice his twin flinch at the touch, too focused on how Kyungsoo smiles so brightly at him as he sits down next to him. His mother counts down and Kai and Kyungsoo leans their heads a bit closer together, Kyungsoo flashing a V-sign and Kai just folding his hands in his lap under the table.

His mother looks at the photo once it’s taken and frowns at Jongin. “Jongin the least you could do is look at the camera.”

Jongin grumbles and says for them to just take another one, giving one last side glance at Kai and Kyungsoo before trying to put on a small smile as he leans in closer to his own friends. Kai gulps when he sees how fake it is.

He’s too caught up in warily glancing at his twin, that he forgets to pose for the picture. Their mother frowns again, huffing and putting her hands on her hips when she sees the next picture. “What am I going to do with you two? I swear.”

Jongin looks to his brother and they make eye contact, Kai seeing sparks of some sort of barely concealed emotion in his twin’s eyes when he stares long enough. Kai swears he's never felt more uncomfortable in his life.

  
 

✨

  
 

After the cake is cut and eaten, most people in the room swooning at the lovely taste courtesy of Kai’s heavenly cooking, it’s time for presents. Kai watches admirably as Jongin accepts each of his gifts, his eyes bright with happiness from each one. His brother excitedly shows his friends a few of the new games their parents bought him, each of the boys hooting in glee, saying how they should play it all night tonight.

Jongin never turns around to acknowledge him, but that’s okay. Kai feels content sweep into his heart at hearing Jongin’s high pitched laughter when Taemin makes a horrid pun, or seeing his lovely smile that seems to be so rare when he’s in Kai’s presence.

Kai feels someone staring at him from the side and looks to see Kyungsoo’s eyes on him. Kyungsoo gives a small smile, his gaze concerned but he says nothing. Kai doesn’t really understand why but he just shrugs it off for now, not wanting to miss a moment of seeing Jongin this happy.

It’s all over too fast though. There were only a small amount of presents for him this year, the only ones being from their parents and his friends that he had invited over. The others were an assortment of cards from relatives filled with cash for him to spend for his leisure. Kai got quite a few things from their relatives as well. Most of them were simple cards with short messages of ‘Happy Birthday Kai sweetie’ or silly singing animals that danced in the form of a hologram when it was opened. It warmed Kai’s heart that his family thought of him enough to send him something like this.

He also got a box of books from his grandfather. Originally, they were meant for Jongin since their grandfather doesn’t seem to take a great liking to Kai and ‘his kind’, but Jongin barely ever reads anything other than manga so their parents just gave them to Kai instead. He figures a gift is a gift, no matter who it was originally for. It’s meant to be appreciated and loved, and since Jongin can’t do that, Kai will do it for him.

Kai is in the middle of helping his parents clean up the dining room of wrapping paper and dirtied plates when Jongin and his friends start to head up to his twin’s room. Baekhyun stops, the other running ahead, anxious to play the new game Jongin got.

He looks at Kyungsoo weirdly, like he’s expecting him to follow. “Aren’t you coming with us?”

Kai freezes, his grip tight on the plate in his hand as he looks up at the scene in front of him.

Kyungsoo raises his eyebrow. ”Is Kai allowed to come too?”

Kai looks to kyungsoo, his mouth falling open in surprise. Baekhyun looks at Kai hesitantly, clearly uncomfortable with the idea. At this, Kyungsoo gives a tight smile. “Then I’m not going. Thank you though, it was nice of you to offer.”

Baekhyun looks a little taken back but nods a little before turning around and heading to Jongin’s room. When Kyungsoo turns around to look at Kai, the taller male gives him a small, guilty expression.

“If you want to go with them it’s fine, really. I do not you to feel obligated to hang out with me just because I invited you. I think Jongin and his friends will have enough controllers for you to join in with them and-”

Kyungsoo waves his hand, giving him a kind smile. “I’m here for you Kai, not them.”

Kai gulps, hearing his mother giggle beside him as she takes the dirtied plates from his hands and disappears into the kitchen. He bites his lip slightly, contemplating. “It’s okay. I am used to being by myself so you can go have fun.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and looks to Kai’s father. “Is he always like this?”

Kai’s father lets out a few deep chuckles. “Yes. He’s always been bashful like this. Not sure if it’s programming or just him.”

Kai’s blood drains from his face when his father speaks. He looks to Kyungsoo in panic, gauging his reaction. To his relief, Kyungsoo just laughs, obviously not thinking too in it. Kai walks over and grabs Kyungsoo’s wrist gently. “On second thought, let’s go to my room. I can’t wait to see your gifts.”

Kyungsoo beams up at him, thankfully allowing him to be pulled to Kai’s room without resistance. Kai feels his heart racing once he closes the door. He rests his head there for a moment. That was too close. He definitely needs to warn his parents not to talk that way around Kyungsoo next time.

Kyungsoo puts a hand on his shoulder, startling Kai from his thoughts. He looks down at the wide eyed male, Kyungsoo returning his stare with worry. “Are you alright Kai?”

Kai nods eagerly. “Yes definitely. Uh, so…”

“So?”

Kai clears his throat, glancing at the paper bag sitting on top of his duvet. Kyungsoo must have grabbed it from the beginning of the hallway when Kai was frantically dragging him away from his parents. His heart leaps in excitement because he almost forgot about his gifts. “May I open them?”

His voice is so small, but yet so hopefully, causing Kyungsoo to grin. “Of course.”

Kai lets out a happy gasp and plops on his bed, adjusting himself so he’s sitting with his legs crossed in front of the bag. Kyungsoo sits on the edge of the bed, watching Kai as the other eagerly reaches in and pulls something out.

Kai inspects the object in his hands carefully. It looks like a case of some sort. When he reads the title on the front, he realizes it’s a Korean Drama. He mentally searches his memory database for where he’s seen it before, realizing it’s many years old. He looks at the title in awe. “You Who Came From the Stars? How did you even get a copy of this? It's basically ancient!”

Kyungsoo chuckles, rubbing neck in embarrassment. “My brother has a lot of different selections of antiques at his shop and I saw this. My grandmother said she watched it back when she was around our age so I’m sure it will be cheesy to watch. I figured you might like it since you said you liked old things.”

Kai looked back at the case in his hand, opening it to see an abundance of disks inside. His eyes widen at the sight. He’s never even seen a CD before. “How are we going to watch it? I do not own an operational CD player..” He’s pretty sure no one has a CD player anymore. Everything is just put on a small memory drive and accessed from there.

Kyungsoo smirks slightly, his tone teasing when he gives a light “we?”

Kai feels his cheeks burn as they did before when he and Kyungsoo were in the park. The heat pricks at his skin and he even feels it flow to the tips of his eyes. He tries to stutter out a response, but is too overwhelmed from feeling so flustered.

Kyungsoo just laughs good naturedly. “You’re so cute Kai.” Kai blushes more, and he can see from the mirror on the other side of the room that his face is a deep deep red. Kyungsoo takes the CD case from his hand and unlocks a small compartment inside, revealing a small drive. He holds it up, the device dangling from a pretty keychain with a few hearts and jewels. “My brother converted them so we can watch them on the more up to date formats. Sorry about the keychain. Seungsoo tends to like overly cute things. I swear he’s a six year old girl trapped in a man’s body sometimes. You should see his teddy bear collection.”

Kai cracks a grin, thinking how strange it would be if Jongin was like that. He would accept it either way, but it just seems so out of character from his overall cold facade that the thought of it makes him laugh to himself.

Kyungsoo nods at the bag. “There’s more.”

Kai blinked, looking back inside and gasping when he saw the various manga collections inside. He’s always seen Jongin reading these on weekends or when he’s avoiding doing his homework. Although, his seem more boyish, more swords or other various weapons on the front with the occasionally scantily dressed girl with large breasts. The ones Kyungsoo had gifted him looked more appealing to him, but at the same time very feminine. He gives Kyungsoo a beaming smile before flipping through some of the pages and excitingly showing the smaller male some of the beautiful drawings.

There are two more gifts in the bag, one being what was once thought of as a toy way back in the day. It was supposed to be a bird, it’s neck and beak long and it’s body but a small little sphere. It had a cute little top hat on, but the entire thing was made out of glass so it somehow looked very elegant and fragile. Kyungsoo calls it a Dippy Bird and tells him to put some water in the small cup that came with it and it’ll drink from it. Kai looks at it utterly fascinated, running to the kitchen to fill the cup with water. He almost bumps into Taemin on the way back to his room since all of the other boys seem to be looking for more food, but he was in too much of a hurry to test out his new toy.

Kyungsoo was biting his lip to hold back his laugh at the sight of Kai peeking over his small nightstand to watch the bird move back and forth slightly. The taller male stares hard at it, his shoulders deflating when all it did was stop moving suddenly. He looks to Kyungsoo with a small pout but Kyungsoo just shakes his head. “Look.”

Kai turns his attention back to the bird, waiting in anticipation for something to happen. Slowly the bird tipped down and dipped its beak back into the water before rising back up and moving back and forth again. Kai nearly squeals at the sight.

Kyungsoo stares at him with adoration. “Have you never heard of these before?”

Kai shakes his head quickly. “No but I love it! Thank you so much Kyungsoo!”

Kyungsoo waves his hand. “I’m just glad you like it. You should come by my brother’s shop one day. I’m sure you’d love it.”

“I would like that a lot.” They just stare at each other for a bit before Kyungsoo clears his throat.

“You have one more in there.”

Kai makes a face because what else could Kyungsoo have even gotten him? This is the greatest birthday he’s ever had. When he reaches in, his hand comes in contact with two similarly shaped objects. He brings them out and looks at them closely, squinting his eyes like he’s trying to understand their purpose. From what he can see, they look like very outdated pieces of technology. What they could possibly do is definitely beyond him. He touches the black cylinder coming out of the top carefully to find that it’s some sort of rubber material.

Kyungsoo takes one of them from his hands, turning the small switch at the top and signalling for Kai to do the same to his. There is a high pitched beep that comes simultaneously from both objects. Kyungsoo brings his to his mouth, watching Kai’s reaction as he presses the button in the center, a small light going on as he does so.

“Can you hear me?” Kyungsoo’s velvety smooth voice comes and goes, but at the same time he speaks, a more static-y version of his words comes through the device in his hands. Kai’s mouth drops as he holds it to his year, almost like it’s going to speak again despite Kyungsoo not saying anything.

“Was that you?”

Kyungsoo nods, holding up the small device. “It’s called a walkie talkie. I found them in my brother’s ‘throw away’ pile at the back of his store. I hacked them so they can get reach each other even if they are really far apart which is kind of why there’s a bunch of wiring and duct tape on the back.” Kai turns the walkie talkie over in his hands and sure enough he sees a large abundance of silver tape lining the back, wires building underneath and slightly showing in some of the cracks that the duct tape doesn’t cover.

The device looks very worn and beat up if he’s being honest but still, it’s a gift from Kyungsoo so that makes it special. Kai blinks as a thought hits him hard. “Does this mean we can talk anytime?”

Kyungsoo smiles. “Yeah! I made it so all you have to do is leave it on a charging station just like you would a phone, so you can use the same one that your family uses for their cell phones.”

Kai felt his heart tug. “You went through all of that trouble for me?”

“Of course Kai. I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted to hang out with you and stuff. You seem like such a great friend and I figured since you didn’t have a phone, this would be the next best thing.”

Kai looks at the walkie talkies, as well as to the rest of his presents. He doesn’t say anything, the room slipping into a small silence for a bit as he opens and closes his mouth multiple times in search of the right words.

Kyungsoo looks at him hesitantly, worriedly even. “Kai? Do you like everything? I’m sorry I couldn’t get you anything super brand new like your brother got but-”

Kai moves the manga from around him and scoots to the end of the bed to sit next to Kyungsoo. He brings him in for a side hug, the angle awkward and stretching his side weirdly but he doesn’t care. He’s just so _happy_. “Thank you Kyungsoo. I love it all so much. I can not even begin to express how happy I am right now.”

Kyungsoo chuckles breathlessly, hugging Kai back the best he could. “Of course, Kai. I’m glad you like your presents.”

When Kai pulls away, he notices a faint dusting of pink across Kyungsoo’s cheeks. He momentarily panics because did he fluster him? Kai only seems to blush when he’s embarrassed so that means that’s what Kyungsoo’s feeling….right? As he takes in Kyungsoo’s small fidgeting and soft smile, he figures maybe blushing means something different to the human.

Or maybe Kai doesn’t fully grasp what exactly a blush means, that maybe it’s not from embarrassment, but something else. He mentally takes note to look up what it means in his human behavioral studies book. Hopefully it can give him some proper answers.

Kyungsoo tilts his head, about to speak when there’s a knock at Kai’s door. His mother pops her head in, smiling wide at the sight of the two boys sitting so close to each other on the bed. “Kai? Why don’t you go get you and Kyungsoo some snacks? I have some chips and dip on the counter if you want that.”

Kai beams at his mother and jumps up, telling Kyungsoo he’ll be right back before darting out of the room. Kyungsoo watches him basically skip out of the room, a small chuckle falling from his lips. Kai sees his mother give Kyungsoo a sly grin and decides to wait at the end of the hall to listen to their conversation. “So your friends with my baby then?”

Kyungsoo is silent for a few seconds, probably nodding to answer her question. “W-We just met today, but I think we’ll be good friends. Kai seems very sweet so…”

Her voice sounds pleasantly surprised as she speaks. “Just today? Wow you guys already seem so close.” Kai chances peaking into the hall and sees his mother wave her hand dismissively. “I’m not saying it as a bad thing, quite the contrary actually. That’s actually what I wanted to come and talk to you about. I really wanted to thank you Kyungsoo, for being here today. Kai is very special, he’s very kind and will give you the shirt off his back even if it’s below freezing outside, but he doesn’t have many friends. It really warms my heart to see that he’s met someone like you. I hope you two become closer in the future. Just know you’re welcome in this house anytime. I know Jongin can be a bit mean, but try not to let him boss you around. You seem really great for Kai and I’d hate for his brother to get in the way of that.”

He hears a quiet ‘thank you Mrs. Kim’ come from Kyungsoo, causing his mother to give a proud smile. “Oh and Kyungsoo? The snowstorm is pretty bad outside so you should probably stay the night. I can call your parents if you need me to.”

“No need,” Kyungsoo says. “I’ll call them in a bit and let them know.”

Kai’s heart leaps. Kyungsoo’s going to sleep over? He grips the corner of the wall in excitement. He’s never even thought of having a sleepover before. What do people usually do during them? Just as he internally starts berating himself for not being prepared with things to entertain themselves with throughout the _whole_ night, he sees his mother move to walk down to the hallway. He yelps softly, remembering he was supposed to be getting snacks for he and Kyungsoo, not snooping on he and his mother’s conversation. He runs as quickly and as stealthily as he can, startling his father as he runs into the kitchen like some sort of olympic athlete in a relay race.

He thinks he’ll get away scot free-

Until he remembers his socked feet and the fact the entire kitchen floor is made of wood.

He slides uncontrollably, losing his footing and and falling backwards. He screams briefly as his arms pinwheel out beside him, his face panic stricken as he desperately tries to find something to grab onto. His hand grazes the dip bowl as he goes down, the bowl itself leaning on its side from the force and rolling towards the edge of the counter. Kai lands on the upper part of his butt, his back aching in pain as soon as he lands. He barely has time to cringe before he feels a cool substance drip on his head. He looks up to see the dip bowl tipped over and spilling directly on him, some landing on his face when he looks up at it.

The dip is white and smells like some sort of french dip. He sighs inwardly. Why can’t he ever do anything right?

Kai’s father rushes over to him, move the dip bowl away. “Kai, are you okay?”

Apparently his scream attracted everyone else in the house as well. He looks past his father to see Jongin and his friends peek into the kitchen to see what all the commotion was about. Kai shrinks into himself when he sees Jongin’s menacing glare.

“Great job, Kai. We were all looking forward to eating that.”

Kai felt his eyes prick painfully at the harsh sound of his brother’s voice. Kai’s father helps him up, not seeing how upset his son seems to be. Kai stares down at his feet in shame, hearing Chanyeol scoff in the background. He’s about to run and hide in his room, just as he would any other time he does something stupid in front of Jongin or his friends, but suddenly he gets a face full of a very concerned looking Kyungsoo.

Kai blinks, flushing at their proximity. What is he doing? Just as he’s about to voice his thoughts, Kyungsoo reaches over and grabs a chip from the other bowl on the counter and brings it to Kai’s face. He lightly drags it up his cheek and eats it. Kai gives him a horrified look but Kyungsoo just laughs wholeheartedly.

“It tastes good. You should try some. Here.” Kyungsoo hands him a chip and Kai takes it, staring at the piece of food in disbelief. He laughs at the at the absurdness of the idea, but does it anyway, unable to keep a straight face after he grabs some of the dip that fell onto his shirt and eats it.

He and Kyungsoo fall into a fit of laughter, both of them pulling amused smiles from their parents. Kai even spots Taemin and Baekhyun with a ghost of a smile. Sehun and Chanyeol just scoff and roll their eyes but that’s usually a given when it involves anything with Kai. Jongin, on the other hand, is just staring blankly at both Kyungsoo and his twin, eyes unmoving even as his friends slowly retreat back to his room.

Kai’s laughter dies down when he realizes Jongin may still be angry at him for ruining the snacks. “I am sorry about the snacks, Jongin. I can make you more if you want.”

Kyungsoo gives him a bewildered look before turning to look at Jongin. His twin still stares, but without saying a word, he leaves to go to the bathroom by the livingroom. Kai bits the inside of his cheek at the reaction, even their parents sharing a look.

Kai’s mother clears her throat. “Kai, baby, why don’t you go take a shower? Oh and make sure to give Kyungsoo an extra towel in case he wants to take one as well.”

Kai smiles. “Yes mother.” He looks to Kyungsoo and offers his hand. “Let’s go.”

Kyungsoo blinks a few times, staring down at Kai’s hand before hesitantly taking it. Kai spots that faint red dusting his cheeks again but decides not to say anything about it, secretly hoping he isn’t embarrassing the other male. He leads Kyungsoo to his room, happily talking about how they could watch a few episodes of the drama he had given Kai for his birthday. Kyungsoo just nods, laughing nervously as they walk hand in hand, Kyungsoo’s smile brightening when Kai looks back at him.

What they don't see, though, is Jongin watching their interactions from the living room, a deep frown etched onto his face.

 

 


	3. A Delicate Balance

 

It’s not that Kai having a friend bugs him, _but it really bugs him_.

Jongin really can’t fathom _why_ the idea of it makes some sort of unknown emotion boil in the bit of his stomach. He should be happy right? This means Kai will leave him alone more, something he’s wished since the moment his parents got that forsaken robot from SGI Robotics. But why does that put even more of a damper on his mood?

Maybe it’s because of all people, it had to be Do Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo isn’t really popular in school, unlike Jongin. He’s a nerd, while Jongin’s a jock. They’ve never really been in the same clique or friend group so they’ve virtually never spoken to each other. Jongin hears a lot about him, though, from his friends that go to him for tutoring or help on homework assignments. From what he can tell, Kyungsoo is nothing but a small ball of hatred filled with sarcastic remarks. It was to the point where Jongin began to think he hated everyone and everything under the sun. Then again, with a school like there’s, reputation is everything and Do Kyungsoo is definitely not privileged like most that attend, including Jongin himself. He really doesn’t blame Kyungsoo snapping at anyone that even looks at him the wrong way, but it’s one of the main reasons why it strikes him so oddly that he’s friends with a pushover like Kai.

What could a human possibly want out of a friendship with a robot?

Jongin felt his heart drop, gripping the game controller in his hands in momentary fear. What if Kyungsoo doesn’t know Kai isn’t real? Or worse, what if he _does_ know?

He’s gone to grade school with Kyungsoo and the other was bound to know about Jongin’s late twin, but was left in the dark about his death. Everyone was. The only people that knew were Jongin’s family and close friends. He lied to everyone else, telling them Kai was being home schooled instead because the truth at the time was just too hard for him to bare.

A wave of panic rushes over him at the thought of Kyungsoo possibly blabbering about Kai to one of the other students. He has to make sure this doesn’t get out. He’ll be the talk of the school if it does and the last thing he wants is a damper on his reputation he’s spent so long trying to establish.

“Jongin are you even _trying_ to win the game?” Taemin’s voice rings in his ears and he snaps out of his daze, looking to the holo-tv on his wall. The words ‘ ** _GAME OVER_** ’ spell out across the screen in obnoxious red and white letters. Jongin frowns, clicking the option to start from the last checkpoint.

“Sorry guys. Guess I zoned out a bit.”

Baekhyun yawns from his spot on Jongin’s bed. “Actually I think we should just give up for the night. According to the playbook online, we got through over half of the campaign. Maybe next weekend we’ll be able to beat it completely.”

Chanyeol gives a small ‘tch’. “If Jongin can focus properly.”

Jongin pushes him playfully and they both laugh in unison. Taemin goes to press the power button on the console, the machine playing a small burst of music as it powers down. “Hey,” Taemin says, “do you think we should-”

Just then there’s laughter ringing from somewhere outside Jongin’s room. Jongin stares at the closed door like he wants to burn it down. That’s definitely not his parents out there. The sounds are pleasant to the ear, but to him they are just artificial vocal cords mocking the sound of actual laughter. His stomach flips uncomfortably at the thought.

His friends seem to have noticed his mood drop. Baekhyun watches him warily before hesitantly reaching out and putting a hand on Jongin's shoulder. “I know you hate him but at least he has someone else to talk to. Maybe now he won’t be as clingy.”

Sehun scoffs. “A robot doesn’t ‘need someone to talk to’ Baekhyun. What are you actually sympathizing for that hunk of metal?”

Baekhyun gets a panicked look. “No! I just think this may be good for Jongin in a way.” He looks to Jongin. “I mean if your parents really wanted to give you back Kai, they would have gone through great lengths to have him programmed to act just like a real sibling would.”

Chanyeol narrows his eyes. “What are you even saying?”

“Siblings can be close and I’m sure Jongin’s parents wanted him to have that bond despite everything that happened to the Kai we know and loved. This Kai is programmed to want interaction and happiness from the person he is told is his brother. He can’t help but to be ‘clingy’ or ‘annoying’ like Jongin always says he is. And since Jongin here doesn’t want any part of being his brother, Kai is probably suffering in a way.”

Jongin’s mouth goes dry. Suffering? Can robots suffer?

Sehun and Chanyeol are about to say a comeback, probably something along the lines of Baekhyun just being too kind hearted by nature but Taemin makes a small noise of understanding. “It makes sense honestly. Imagine how it feels to know that you should be able to bring a smile to your own brother’s face when in reality he can’t even stand looking at you.”

Jongin glares at him. “He’s not my brother.”

Taemin rolls his eyes. “No shit Jongin, but to him you are. He was created with the key component that Kim Jongin is his twin brother, so to him you are. It’s all about perspective. Honestly, you can be such a dick to him.” Jongin frowns. “I know his feelings are all artificial to you, but damn. I have an AI Unit too but you don’t see me bullying the shit out of her.”

Sehun gives him a pointed look. “You complain about her all the time though.”

Taemin sighs. “Because the damn girl just loves putting my socks in my underwear drawer when she does the laundry. Plus she color codes all my shirts in my closet and you know I’m not for all that organized shit. I like my room to be a delightful mess.” Baekhyun snorts and Taemin continues. “But even though she annoys the shit out of me, I let her do what she wants because it’s in her programming to do things a certain way. Even though she was manmade, she has her own set of instincts and morals that have either been instilled in her or learned from the members of my family. Whether you like it or not, AI Units are programmed to have mock feelings of our own. Push Kai too far Jongin, and you may regret it.”

“I don’t need another mother lecturing me about how to treat that damn robot, okay Taemin? I get enough shit from my family, I don’t need it from you too.”

Taemin sighs and shakes his head, about to say something else but Jongin cuts him off. “I’m going to the bathroom.”

He swiftly gets up from his chair and heads out the door. Taemin and Baekhyun are wrong. There’s no way Kai can be that sensitive when it comes to his feelings. Sure, Kai tends to back off when he can see Jongin is blatantly annoyed at something but that’s just him knowing human behavior right? Kai’s smart. He’s a robot. They aren’t created to be dumb.

At the same time though, he has seen Kai close to tears on countless occasions, more often than not caused by Jongin himself. He knows he can be harsh and sometimes, although he won’t admit it, it eats him up inside when he sees the hurt look of the AI Unit’s face. He blames it on the fact that he sees his twin’s face, not that blasted robot.

But a part of him, deep down, also feels a bit guilty when he sees any sort of disappointment on Kai’s face, especially if it’s caused by him. Jongin’s not sure what to make of his emotions and it’s probably one of the reasons his temper flares so easily, but he puts that at the back of his mind for now as he peeks into the kitchen to see Kai and Kyungsoo talking over a glass of water.

Jongin’s eyes narrow at Kyungsoo’s fond smile as he stares at Kai, the AI Unit talking animatedly about God knows what. Jongin grits his teeth. He doesn’t like where this is going, not one bit.

 

✨

 

Kai is laying on his bed, nestled under his covers. His head is resting on his pillow as he smiles down at Kyungsoo’s sleeping face. They had stayed up as long as they could, talking about anything and everything. They watched a few episodes of the drama Kyungsoo gifted him, but after the third episode Kyungsoo started yawning. They both got ready for bed soon after that, Kai suggesting he could sleep on the floor, but Kyungsoo just waved his hand.

‘ _Your bed is big enough for us both_ ,’ he had said. _‘I’ll take one side and you just take the other._ ’

So that’s how they ended up here, laying side by side in Kai’s bed. At first Kai had been stiff, scooting as far as he could to the edge of his side of the bed to give Kyungsoo as much room as possible. Kyungsoo had just laughed, telling him to just lay comfortably. It took a while, but eventually Kai was able to relax being this close with the human.

Kyungsoo had fallen asleep not long after his head hit his pillow. Kai, on the other hand, decided he’s going to skip on his nightly recharging session. He’s too afraid to go into charging mode because his skin tends to glow unnaturally when he does. The last thing he wants is for Kyungsoo to freak out if he were to wake up before Kai came out of his stasis his charging session puts him into. He figures he’ll just stay awake all night and charge tomorrow, maybe read some of the manga Kyungsoo had given him.

For now though, he’s content watching Kyungsoo peacefully sleeping. Kai can’t help but to softly smile at how serene and beautiful the human looks as he sleeps, his chest rising and falling rhythmically. His plump lips are pursed in the slightest in the form of a small pout, his eyebrows slightly furrowed as well. He must be dreaming.

Kai gets a sudden idea, feeling his cheeks warm up at the thought of it. He hesitates, scared he may wake Kyungsoo up, but now that he’s thought about it, he knows he won’t be able to forget. He reaches out slowly, his fingers making contact with Kyungsoo’s soft cheek. When the human doesn’t even stir, Kai bites his lip and drags his fingertips across the planes of Kyungsoo’s face. His touch is light and slow, but Kyungsoo seems to like the sensation. Kai’s smile appears back on his face the moment he sees the other male’s face visibly relax. His lips are no longer pursed and his eyebrows are no longer scrunched together.

_‘He’s truly beautiful,’_ Kai thinks to himself as his thumb lightly brushes against Kyungsoo’s lips that part slightly when he touches them. They may have just met that day, but Kai really treasures Kyungsoo already. He knows that may be strange for the human considering it takes longer for human’s to trust and cherish, but for him it’s different. He’s never had anyone spend time with him like this. In a way, Kai’s parents try to spend time with him, but it’s not the same.

They’ll watch movies or shows with him just as Kyungsoo did, sure, but somehow the atmosphere is completely different. With his parents, he isn’t excited to be in there presence, to watch their reactions as each scene goes by. With Kyungsoo, though, both of them would talk adamantly about whatever conflict is going on or what character is their favorite. Kai found it fascinating that Kyungsoo actually hated the main lead female because she had too strong of a personality and was too spoiled. Kai had thought the opposite, that she was original and very unique. When he told Kyungsoo this, he just laughed, saying something along the lines of ‘ _trust me, she’s super annoying_ ’. Kai took his word for it since he really doesn’t have many interactions with human women besides his own mother.

Kai sighs quietly, watching as Kyungsoo’s eyelashes flutter as he sleeps. He hopes he can see Kyungsoo again soon. He’s not exactly how long he should wait to ask if they can do something together again. Maybe tomorrow morning when he wakes up? Or is that too soon?

He sends a worried look the the boy next to him. He’ll have to ask his mother for advice on this. He needs to make sure he’s a good friend to Kyungsoo, but he also needs to know when to give him space. He definitely can’t ask his brother. Jongin would probably just laugh at him, saying that abominations like him don’t have friends.

He sucks in a sudden breath at the thought, his body getting tense. What if it’s true? What if he can’t have someone like Kyungsoo because he’s not human? He hadn’t thought this through, especially since Kyungsoo is going to find out what he is at one point. Will he feel cheated? Lied to?

Kai tears up at the thought, a storm starting to brew in his heart. What if Jongin’s right? Is he really just an abomination that mimics human behavior? Jongin has said this countless times and even though their parents yell at him for it, they never correct him.

Kai’s so lost in his thoughts that he’s startled when he feels an arm wrap gently around his waist. Kai looks down at Kyungsoo to see him blearily staring at him, his eyes glazed and barely open. Kai is silent, not realizing he’s crying until Kyungsoo wipes away some of the tears staining his cheeks.

He gives a lazy smile. “Don’t cry,” he whispers. “It’s okay. I’m here.”

Kai’s vision blurs at the words, more tears running down his face. He rashly reaches out and hugs Kyungsoo to his chest, crying quietly into his hair. He feels Kyungsoo move his hands up and down his waist to attempt to comfort him, but it only makes him cry harder. Kyungsoo never pushes him to say anything, just whispering hushed comments here and there to try to calm him down.

When he finally calms down, Kyungsoo had already fallen asleep back alseep. As Kai continues to hold Kyungsoo in his arms as the other sleeps, Kai thinks that maybe, just maybe, an abomination like him _is_ deserving enough to have someone like this human. His lovely Kyungsoo.

 

✨

 

The party came and went and Jongin spent most of his sunday cleaning up since his friends trashed his room. He had ate breakfast with them, but neither Kai or Kyungsoo had come out to join them. His friends kept asking what he was looking at when he would continuously glance down the hall to Kai’s room, but he just waved them off. When the time came, he said goodbye to his friends, getting his usual hug from Baekhyun and punch on the arm from Taemin. Chanyeol and Sehun don’t really say anything but ‘see ya next weekend’ before leaving, but that’s how they always are so Jongin doesn’t mind.

He’s actually in a pleasant mood today, like he always is when he’s able to hang out with his best friends. He has days like this where he has random bursts of happiness. He blames it on the fact it was his birthday yesterday. Maybe he should go by his brother’s grave today and drop off flowers since it was snowing too hard for him to do it yesterday. Kai would like that a lot.

Jongin smiles as he picks up the empty chip bags and other trash, shoving them into a plastic bag. He takes the soda cans and puts them in a pile for him to take to the recycling processor later. Once his room is spotless again, he glances to his backpack and sighs. He’ll have to do his homework here in a bit. For now, though, he just wants to relax.

He drags the trash bag out to the laundry room and throws it into the incinerator, pressing the necessary buttons until there is a red flash and the trash bag is gone. The dust left inside the chamber is swept away by the automatic response system inside, making it appear as if it weren’t there in the first place. Jongin sighs, going to the kitchen for some water. He stops, though, when he sees Kai.

He silently watches as Kai hums happily to himself. There is a bright expression on his face as he takes down the decorations and puts them into a small box by his feet. When Jongin looks closer, he sees it’s labeled ‘Jongin’s Party Decor’ in small, little writing. For a moment, Kai’s beaming smile spreads to Jongin’s own face. His smile isn't as bright, but his lips still quirk at the edges as he watches Kai move around and dance to a tune only he can hear.

Kai twirls around, the decorations in his hands looking like royal blue ribbons spinning with him beautifully. Jongin, for once, doesn’t see an AI Unit in front of him, but his own brother. He’s sees his Kai, the one who once loved ballet and often tried to teach Jongin how to do a pirouette. He always used spin Jongin uncontrollably, like he wanted him to land flat on his face every time.

Jongin smiles wistfully at the memory, eyes going a bit out of focus until he hears someone clear their throats. He looks to see Kai giving him a mortified look.

“How long have you been standing there?”

Jongin looks Kai up and down, smirking slightly. “Long enough. Your twirl could use some work.”

Kai openly gapes at him, dropping the decorations in his hands. Jongin gives him a disturbed look. “What?”

Kai sputters, fists clenching and unclenching. “It’s….You just. You smiled at me,” he says quietly. “You never smile at me like that.”

Jongin blinks, then tears his eyes away from Kai’s shocked face and frowns deeply. _Did_ he just smile at Kai?

Well actually it was a smirk, but even then, why did he do it? Was he too caught up in the memory of his brother that he forgot how he’s supposed to feel or act towards this AI Unit in front of him?

“Jongin?” Kai calls softly.

Jongin feels frustration and anger course through him as he walks by Kai, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and walking back towards his room. “Shut up.”

 

✨

 

It’s late at night and Jongin had just finished his homework due the next day. His parents had long since gone to bed and Kai is usually in his charging stasis by this time, so he’s the only one up. He debates playing a bit of his new video games that his parents bought him for his birthday, but he figures he’ll get sucked in and never end up sleeping. He usually takes naps during his classes or during his study break, but he should probably try to at least get a relatively good night’s rest.

His stomach growls loudly and he decides a midnight snack won’t hurt him, so he heads to the kitchen. He doesn’t even bother to be quiet, knowing his parents would sleep through anything anyways. He digs through the fridge, the light illuminating the entire room is a soft glow.

He’s about to pick some leftover kimchi pancake from dinner, when he hears Kai’s laughter ring through the quiet house. Jongin tilts his head, a bit confused as to why the robot is still activated despite how late it is. Food forgotten, Jongin closes the fridge and creeps his way to Kai’s room. He peeks through the cracked door and sees Kai talking adamantly into some sort of handheld device, hearing another person’s voice answer as soon as he’s done. When he listens closely, he figures it out to be Kyungsoo.

Baekhyun was right.

Jongin should be infinitely happy that Kai finally has a distraction like this, but he’s not.

He’s disgruntled and uncomfortable just by the idea of it. Especially now when he looks at that dazed expression on Kai’s face as he listens to Kyungsoo tell him a story about his grandmother. To Jongin, it just spells trouble.

He definitely needs to keep a careful eye on Do Kyungsoo from now on before this gets too out of hand.

 

✨

 

School comes way too soon the next morning as a loud, obnoxious ringing startles Jongin from his peaceful sleep. He slams his hand on the nightstand next to him, the touch screen on the top stopping the ringing the moment his hand is scanned. He blinks blearily at his surroundings, groaning to himself when he sees the sun isn’t even up yet. He sits up and rubs his eyes, stretching a second later.

There is a short knock at his door and it opens slowly. Jongin looks up to see Kai standing there nervously, avoiding eye contact. “Mother wanted to know if you were going to eat at the house or go out with your friends before school again.”

Jongin gives him a scowl from his spot on the bed. “Have you eaten yet?”

“No,” Kai says softly. “I was waiting for you. I made us pancakes and mixed fruit. I even made your favorite-”

“Tell mom I’m eating with Sehun.”

Kai gets a hurt look, but nods solemnly. He closes the door as he leaves, Jongin watching him the entire time. Why Kai even bothers, he has no idea. It’s not like he’s ever going to _willingly_ spend time with him.

He grabs his phone and sends a quick text to Sehun, asking him to pick him up early so they could eat together. A second later he gets a reply saying he can’t, that it’s snowing too much outside for him to drive. He sighs, not really knowing what to do now that he told Kai he was going out with his friends. He can’t just casually go into the kitchen and decide to eat there. If he does, Kai’s going to be _happy_ and give him that beaming smile that just makes Jongin’s gut twist in what he wants to believe is anger. He shakes his head of the thought, telling himself he’ll get something from school later and gets dressed in his school uniform. It’s nothing special, grey dress pants and a blazer to match. The only thing he really has a say in is the color tie since the school doesn’t have any sort of preference except for the fact that they must be checkered. Jongin thinks it’s a bit tacky looking, but at least there is some sort of freedom.

He straightens his hair in the mirror before grabbing his backpack and heading towards the front door. When he’s slipping on his snow boots, he sees Kai poke his head around the corner. Jongin looks up at him briefly and frowns.

“What?”

Kai swallows harshly and bites his lip. “Have...a good day at school.”

Jongin stares at him for a few moments with a blank expression. He rolls his eyes. “Whatever.” He hears his stomach gurgle from hunger and he worries he might not be able to wait all the way until he gets to school. “Can you grab me an orange from the kitchen?”

Kai blinks. “Are you not going to eat with Sehun?”

Jongin sighs in irritation. He was hoping to avoid this whole thing. Curse his damn stomach. “No.”

“But you said-”

“I just didn’t want to eat with _you_ , okay?”

Kai sports another hurt look and this time Jongin feels guilt wash over him. Taemin’s words echo in his head like a mantra. He really does treat Kai like shit doesn’t he? It’s too late to take his words back though. It not like it’ll actually hurt Kai like it does a regular human being. His heart won’t be scarred by his treatment because he _doesn’t have one._

Kai nods a little and goes to the kitchen, coming back and handing it to him. Just as Jongin’s about to head out the front door he hears a soft “I’m sorry” that makes him pause. He whirls around to stare at the AI Unit, but the other is already walking away, his shoulders slumped and his head hung low to stare at the floor in shame.

Jongin runs out the door before he can do anything rash- like go over and actually apologize.

 

✨

 

Even though he doesn’t really agree with Taemin on his view of AI Units, specifically how he treats his _own_ AI Unit, Jongin can’t help but to feel insecure about it all. He wants to believe a robot can’t have any sort of human emotions, but he’s beginning to doubt all that. It’s hard for him to try to change, though. He’s spent years treating this robot a certain way that he doesn’t know any other way to treat Kai. He supposes it would be like being nice to a stranger, but honestly, how awkward would that be? He’s parents would think he’s gone insane to do a complete one-eighty with his attitude.

There is, of course, his pride as well. He’s not oblivious. He knows he can be a arrogant when he wants to be, but that’s how he’s always been. Ever since he hit high school, his popularity skyrocketed the day it was announced he was on the baseball team with other upperclassmen when he was just a first year other year student. Now he’s still the school’s heartthrob since he participates in numerous sports, winning medals for his school left and right. Everyone adores him, and he admits, he may or may not have let it gone to his head a little bit, but who wouldn’t? Especially in his case.

School is the only place he’s truly happy. It’s why he hates going home everyday. At school, he feels like he’s had a fresh start. He doesn’t have to be constantly reminded of his twin or of his own parents suffering. He only has to focus on himself and what the people there think of him, which so far, is pretty great. This, he knows, could come crashing down at any moment and this is the exact reason why he has to watch Kyungsoo.

He’s built this cocoon of lies around him so no one would question what happened to his twin brother or give him those sympathetic eyes that his entire family gives him. No. They only see Jongin as Jongin. Not as the pathetic soul who lost his twin brother to a drunk driver at such a young age.

Jongin sighs as he flops into his seat by the window, his deskmate coming in a bit later. Jongin gives her a dazzling smile when she says a soft good morning to him. Sohee is cute, but Jongin finds her a bit obsessive. He’s lost count of the number of love letters he’s gotten from her, and each one she professes her love for him more and more. He’s not exactly sure what to say to her since he really doesn’t want to hurt her or embarrass her with straight out rejection, so he hopes his subtle denials of meeting with her after class will give her the hint.

Class starts the moments the bell sounds off. Jongin is twirling his pencil between his fingers as his teacher starts calling out names to hand back tests. His name is one of the first ones, and after quietly walks up and grabs his test, he starts to zone out in his seat. His teacher goes on to say a few names, but Jongin immediately perks up at one in particular.

“Do Kyungsoo?”

“Here.” Jongin blinks a few times and subtly turns around enough to see Kyungsoo staring off into space just as he was doing earlier. Jongin turns back around and stares thoughtfully at his lap.

Jongin’s actually surprised at exactly how many classes he and Kyungsoo share. He’s never really noticed, but he blames that on the other boy being so quiet all the time. Usually Jongin and his friends are the obnoxious kids of the class, cracking jokes left and right. Even the teacher doesn’t seem to mind, playing right into it since most of them consider Jongin their top student. Today, though, he stays quiet. He observes Kyungsoo from his spot at the back of the class every period.

He’s definitely not someone Jongin would see himself being friends with. He seems too serious all the time and has a horrible sense of humor- or at least what he assumes is a horrible sense of humor. He’s never really seen the other boy laugh in school before. _Hell,_ the first time he’s even seen the guy smile was at his birthday party and they’ve been going to school with each other for _years_.

It’s yet another reason why he’s so damn curious about why someone as brooding as Kyungsoo would befriend someone as obnoxiously friendly as Kai. It just doesn’t add up.

That’s why when study hall comes around, Jongin decides he’s had enough of watching the other boy and gathers all of his things and moves to the other side of the library. Kyungsoo’s currently hunched over his textbook, taking notes avidly and doesn’t even see Jongin coming. The taller boy ignores Taemin’s call of his name as he plops into the chair in front of Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo visibly startles, obviously not expecting anyone to come and sit with him. Jongin glances around at the tables around them and realizes almost _no one_ is over there but the two of them, give or take a few students trying to take a nap. Jongin gives Kyungsoo a kind smile when the older student stares in bewilderment.

“Hi hyung.” Jongin doesn’t know much about Do Kyungsoo, but he _is_ sure that he’s at least a year older than him. In fact, their birthdays are only a day apart. Speaking of which- “Happy belated Birthday by the way.”

Kyungsoo stares at him strangely. “Excuse me?”

Jongin tongues his cheek. He really hoped that would have been enough to start a proper conversation, but what did he expect honestly? All of his friends that having tutoring sessions with the other boy say he’s always defensive about anything that doesn’t involve school work. Looks like Jongin’s going to have a bit of a challenge getting him to open up to see what he knows about Kai and if he’s said anything to anybody yet.

“I said, happy belated Birthday.”

Kyungsoo scowls. “No, before that.”

Jongin blinks. “Hi hyung?”

“Yes. That. I don’t ever remember giving you permission to call me ‘hyung’.” Kyungsoo looks somewhere behind him, snorting. “You better go. Your possy looks like they want you back at their table.”

Jongin briefly looks over his shoulder to see Taemin and Baekhyun giving him confused looks. Baekhyun mouths something to him but Jongin ignores it, focusing on Kyungsoo again. Kyungsoo just narrows his eyes at him suspiciously.

“What?” He asks tersely.

Jongin lips form a small pout, trying to win the other man over with a hurt look. “Am I not allowed to sit here? I didn’t see anyone else exactly jumping up to come sit at your table.”

Kyungsoo’s glare hardens. “So you decided to just come over here for the hell of it?”

Jongin purses his lips. If he wants to stick around Kyungsoo, he’s going to have to put on his charm. It works on everyone else on the entire school so it’s bound to work on Kyungsoo in one way or another. He leans in closer, resting his head on his hand and staring straight into Kyungsoo’s eyes. He smirks.

“The truth is, Kyungsoo, I’m curious about you.”

Kyungsoo gives him a level headed look, scooting his chair away a little. “Yeah, well, curiosity killed the cat.”

Jongin chuckles. “So I’m a cat to you then? Shall I start coming to school with cat ear headbands and _meow_ to you to get your attention?”

Kyungsoo gets a flustered look. “Unlike you, I am actually trying to use study hall to, you know, _study._ So will just you go away?”

“Only if you call me kitten,” Jongin winks.

“Are you always this obnoxious when you’re not being a dick to your brother?”

Jongin knows it’s supposed to be a dig on him, but he brushes it off, giving Kyungsoo a sly smile. “If I told you it’s just for you, would you allow me to sit here?”

“And if I told _you_ I think you're a pompous rich kid with no consideration for others, would you go the fuck away?”

“Not a chance, angel. I’m having way too much fun to leave now.” Jongin leans forward to grab Kyungsoo’s textbook. “Oh, statistics. How enthralling.”

The older man slams his hands on the book, bringing it close to his chest a second later. “Touch my stuff and you’ll regret it Kim Jongin.”

“Oh~ Are you going to punish me for being a bad kitty then?”

Kyungsoo sputters. “Did you get hit in the head with a soccer ball one too many times or something?”

“Enough to actually be able to find you as decent company, it seems,” Jongin says, his head on his hand, grinning ear to ear.

They bicker back and forth a bit longer, leaving Jongin with a giddy feeling inside. He’s having the time of his life with this, loving every dig and burn Kyungsoo shoots back at him without any sort of hesitation. Even his own friends don’t do this with him since they worry they may upset him in someway. But Kyungsoo? Kyungsoo doesn’t seem to give a shit at all. Jongin supposes that this may make having to watch over the older boy even more interesting than he originally thought.

Kyungsoo frowns when the warning bell for next period goes off, curling his lip when he looks at Jongin. “I can’t fucking believe this.”

“Believe what, sweetheart?”

“That I just wasted my entire study hall on this pointless conversation with you.”

Jongin grins. “We should continue this pointless conversation then. How about lunch? I’ll buy. I hear they’re having burritos in the cafeteria for once since everyone passes their exams last semester.”

“What? No!”

Jongin snickers. “See you at lunch then.”

Before Kyungsoo can retort in any way, Jongin’s already up and out of his seat to walk towards Baekhyun and Taemin. He has a smile playing on his lips when he greets them, it only widening when he glances back at Kyungsoo to see him aggressively shoving his textbook into his bag and grumbling to himself He knows Kyungsoo can’t stand him, but for some reason, that only makes him want to mess with him even more.

His friends question what he was doing with Kyungsoo all period, but he just waves them off. He really doesn’t want to admit the real reason he feels the need to keep track of the older boy, knowing the subject of Kai will come up and quite frankly, that’s the last thing he wants at the moment. Afterall, this is the first time in _years_ he’s actually felt this kind of happiness. Not even the swooning girls in the hallways and the proud smiles of the nearby teachers make him feel this energetic and lighthearted.

He doesn’t know what these feelings means, but one thing is for sure.

He really needs to continue talking to Do Kyungsoo.

 

* * *

 

So I’m not really happy with this update (I’m sososoo sorry if it’s boring ;;;) because I put it off for so long and kind of got into a slump. I was hoping to show you more of jongin’s actual personality outside of being mopey all the time ahaha. He’s going to be playing a key role in this story so just remember that ;) I’m not sure when the next update will be but I’m not going to let it be too long from now. I’m writing for Kaifectionery and Monsterfest so be patient with me! I have an idea of what I want the next chapter to be about so it shouldn’t take me long! 

Anyways. let me know what you think of this chapter ;;;;;; I feel bad I’ve made you guys wait for so long and all I have to give you is this lol. Anyways! THANKS FOR READING. I PROMISE THE STORY WILL GET BETTER CONSIDER THIS A FILLER CHAPTER T_T


	4. Because It's You and Me

 

 

School has not been great to Jongin these past couple weeks. He’s had test after test and he’s not sure how much longer he’s going to be able to take it before he goes insane.

Jongin drops his bag on his bed and sighs, deciding to procrastinate on his homework to give himself a break. He’s sore from soccer practice, so rather than lying down and succumbing to his exhaustion, he goes out and stretches in the living room. His parents aren’t home from work just yet and probably won’t be until later in the night.

It’s just him and Kai in this empty house, but surprisingly the android hasn’t come over to try to make conversation with him. Maybe he could sense other’s miserable mood and, thankfully, decided it’s best if Jongin was left alone. Although, Jongin can’t deny he’s a little curious as he stops his stretching and leans over to peer down the hall. Usually, if Kai isn’t bothering him, the AI Unit is in the kitchen preparing dinner or cleaning the house. From the living room, Jongin can see the other’s door is open and when he creeps closer, he hears Kai’s soft voice as he talks to himself.

It’s only when he stands and walks towards the room, does he hear a second voice.

“I really hate your brother,” it says, the sound a little distorted. It sounds familiar, though, so Jongin unconsciously moves closer. “He bugs me all the time at school now. I just want to strangle him sometimes.”

Jongin casually peeks into Kai’s room, silently praying the AI Unit isn’t looking his way. Luckily, Kai’s looking out the window by his bed, paying too much attention to the handheld device in his palm. He hears Kai gasp in delight. “Jongin spends time with you? Really? He hasn’t spent time with anyone outside of Chanyeol and them for years….. This is great Kyungsoo!”

Jongin blinks, not really understanding the other’s logic. Kyungsoo seems to agree as well because a moment later, there is a disgruntled noise coming from the device. “How is this great? He’s the bane of my existence all study hall.”

“Please don’t look at it like that. I know Jongin can be… harsh or come off at rude but please try to see past that. My parents say he’s pretty popular in school but I still think he’s….lonely.”

“What the hell does he have to feel lonely about? He’s spoiled rotten and thinks he can just get what he wants when he wants it and I-”

“Kyungsoo.” To Jongin’s surprise, Kai sounds stern when he speaks. “There are aspects of my brother that most can’t  understand, that even I can’t understand. He’s…. He’s been through alot in his life to get where he is now and he puts up a strong front so others don’t question him. I’m sure the Jongin you see is not the same Jongin I see at home. You say that at school, he bothers you. Well at home, it’s more of me bothering him. My parents and I have watched him break down on more than one occasion, only for him to revert back to pushing us all away. If he’s reaching out for you, that’s a wonderful thing. I would die to be in your shoes. Does he smile when he’s with you? I would hope so. He doesn’t smile enough these days and it worries me endlessly.” Jongin feels like the air was ripped from his lungs. He stares at the AI Unit with a shocked expression, body paralyzed and eyes wide.

“Still. You can’t just expect me to ignore the way he treats you Kai. People have the power to change who they are despite what may have happened to them in the past.” Kyungsoo’s voice is quiet as he speaks, unsure sounding.

Kai stares down at his lap, his hair falling into his eyes and a small smile playing on his lips. “My brother has his reasons for the way he interacts with me and it’s not something you should judge him for. I understand you’re worried for my well being but it’s okay Kyungsoo. Right now, all I want to do is make my brother happy and if taking the brunt of his anger or sadness lessens his pain in any way, then I’m content for now.”

Jongin’s shaking now and feels his breathing becoming erratic. Before Kai could possibly hear him, he braces himself on the wall beside the door and hides himself. Jongin hears Kyungsoo heave a defeated sigh on the other end of the device.

“Maybe if I let him continue bothering me, he’ll be less upset towards you all the time.”

Kai laughs. “Maybe. Does this mean you’ll be nice to him?”

“I’ll….tolerate him. For you. I can see he’s important to you so I guess it’s the least I could do.”

Kai hums and for a second, both of them are silent. Jongin’s about to sneak back to his room to try to calm himself down before his throat closes up and he breaks down completely, but Kyungsoo utters something that makes his heart sink.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to him?”

Jongin tenses and fear hits him like ice water striking against his skin, his heart pounding in his chest the longer Kai’s silence stretches on. He opens his mouth to say something, anything to keep Kai from possibly saying the truth, but the other beats him to it.

“It’s not my story to tell, Kyungsoo.”

Jongin chokes on his tears as they fall, relief washing over him like a tidal wave. He darts back to his room as fast as he can, trying not to think too deeply about Kai’s words that are circling in his head, and slams his door before climbing into bed. He tries to focus on calming down his racing heart and his shaky hands as he curls in on himself, crying pitifully.

The aching in his chest becoming unbearable as he dives too deep into his poisonous thoughts. Thoughts of how worthless he is. How horrible he’s been to his family. How absolutely selfish he’s been from the very start.

“Kai,” he whimpers. At this point he’s not sure who he’s calling out for: his brother or his AI Unit.  
  


✨

 

Kai hummed a tune into the receiver of walkie talkie, a grin plastered on his face.

“Are you seriously singing One Direction? They’re basically ancient Kai. How do you even  _know_  them?”

Kai giggles at Kyungsoo’s exasperated tone. “The real question is how do you know them?”

“My grandma had one of their albums and used to show it to me when I was younger.” Kai hums in acknowledgement. He looks over to the Dippy Bird Kyungsoo had gotten him for his birthday, head following mimicking the movements as it slowly moves back and forth. He hears a deep, soothing tune from the other end of the walkie talkie, Kyungsoo’s voice making him close his eyes and sigh.

They play this game every once and awhile, where one of them hums or sings a song to see if the other can guess it. Kai usually wins since he’s more of a fan of older songs but every once in awhile, Kyungsoo surprises him. It originally started when Kyungsoo told Kai he had a concert for an upcoming festival and he needed to practice. Kai invited him over and both of them spent all night practicing. Kai himself didn’t do much except listen and try to give helpful tips, but he found it a difficult feat considering Kyungsoo sounds like perfection. Of course, the other boy just rolled his eyes and told him he’s supposed to be offering advice, not just praising him left and right.

Kai didn’t pay any mind though. He was just amazed Kyungsoo could actually sing so well. Kai himself can’t really sing, not like Kyungsoo. He can hum or try to sing softly, but he’s not very good. His vocal programming isn’t meant for it.

Kai’s eyes flutter open once Kyungsoo hums the final note and waits for his answer. He smiles, staring up at the ceiling dreamingly. “Can’t Help Falling In Love.”

“Okay, you have to be cheating somehow.”

He can see Kyungsoo’s frown so clearly in his mind that he starts cracking up. “I’m not cheating. I really like that song.”

Kyungsoo let out an exasperated sigh. “You really like every song.”

“Especially if you’re singing it.” The other boy sputters on the other end of the phone.

“Well. As much as I would love to continue singing for you, I still need to clean my room before you come over.” There is a little bit of rustling on the other side of the call. Kai assumes it’s just Kyungsoo getting up and moving around.

“Do you want me to come over later then? You said to be over at two, but it’s one forty-five,” Kai says, a little unsure. This is the first time he’s ever been invited to someone’s house so he’s not sure what’s normal and what’s not.

“Stop worrying so much. Just leave when you want. I don’t have much to clean anyway.”

Kai bites his lip to keep from smiling. “Right. I’ll leave right now then.”

Kyungsoo chuckles. “That eager to see me?”

“Yes,” Kai says truthfully. He’s ecstatic, actually. His stomach feels as if it’s flipping with excitement. He’s never quite experienced this kind of happiness before and it thrills him that Kyungsoo is the reason behind it.

Kyungsoo is silent on the other end for a few moments and Kai briefly thinks the other boy has decided to actually leave to clean his room, but then he hears a quiet. “I’m excited to see you too, Kai.”

“Kyungsoo? Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” he says, sounding a little bit winded. “I should really go. I’ll see you in a bit?”

Kai hums, nodding his head enthusiastically despite the other boy not being able to see him. “See you.”

He puts the walkie talkie on his nightstand and grabs the duffle bag sitting at the foot of his bed. He slings it over his shoulder and walks out of his room, beaming at his mother sitting at the kitchen island talking to his brother. Jongin gives him an uninterested glance before turning around to look in the fridge, presumably for a snack.

Their mother smiles at Kai. “Ready to go?”

Kai nods enthusiastically. “Yes, Mother!”

She giggles, reaching over to grab her purse. “Let’s go then. Jongin, I’ll be back in a few minutes okay?”

Jongin ignores her instead to stare as his brother. Kai lowers his gaze, grip tightening on the bag slung around his shoulders. “A-Are you sure you don’t want to go Jongin? Kyungsoo said you could come as well…”

Jongin scoffed, grabbing a can of soda from the fridge and walking right past him without so much as a word. His mother looks like she’s about to scold him but Kai shakes his head, pulling her along towards the door. He had partially hoped that Jongin would agree to come with him considering how much of an interest he seems to have in Kyungsoo at school, but maybe it’s too soon for that. Kyungsoo says they aren’t really that close so maybe it would be weird to Jongin if he suddenly went to the other’s house, with Kai of all people.

Both make their way to the car down the underground garage and get in. Once his seat belt is on, he fiddles with his fingers anxiously.

“Mother? Can we stop at the bakery on the way? I would like to get Kyungsoo’s parents something. Kyungsoo says they bake a lot so maybe they’ll appreciate it and like me more.” If Kai’s honest, he’s scared to death to meet Kyungsoo’s parents. What if they see right through him? Kyungsoo says they’re engineers so they would be more capable of recognizing an Artificial Intelligence Unit, right?

Kai’s mother gives him a sad, but fond look. “Oh Sweetheart, I’m sure they would love you even without a gift, but sure. We can stop if you want.”

Kai grins, thanking his mother left and right as the platform the car is resting on rises until it locks into place in their driveway. They take off towards the local bakery, Kai bouncing in his seat from the excitement coursing through him. This will be his first time going to a friend’s house, something he’s only seen in movies or read about in novels. The fact that it’s at Kyungsoo’s place makes it all the more special to his heart.

 

✨

 

Kyungsoo is nervous, to say the least.

He thought he played himself off as rather nonchalant during his conversation with Kai, but underneath that facade he was panicky and unsure.

He likes Kai. It’s no secret. Well it is to his father since he’s not exactly sure how he would handle allowing Kai to sleepover knowing Kyungsoo has a crush on him, but his mother is enough for now. He’s told her all about Kai, about how they met, the birthday party, about their countless conversations over the past few weeks. She’s been begging to have Kai over so she could finally meet the boy that has her son so starstruck, but Kyungsoo’s deathly afraid she’ll embarrass him.

He still is, if he’s being honest with himself, but he would rather deal with his mother instead of Kai’s brother. The few times Kyungsoo had gone over to hang out with Kai, Jongin just seemed to be brooding in the background, watching them carefully. It was strange how much of a stark difference Jongin was at home than when he was at school.

Ever since his conversation with Kai, Kyungsoo’s payed close attention to Jongin in school. He seems all smiles to each of his classmates, even those that most sneer at or belittle. He’s kind and treats his teachers with respect. Kyungsoo doesn’t even know what he hated him before meeting Kai. Sure, Jongin’s friends are all assholes in their own right but Jongin himself isn’t that bad of a guy.

The only thing that holds Kyungsoo back from succumbing to Jongin’s charms and allowing himself to befriend the other boy is Kai.

Sweet, precious Kai.

He sees how much Kai has been oppressed, how much he’s been beaten down and rejected love from his own twin. He sees how that treatment has shaped Kai’s personality, making him insecure and quiet as a mouse. It sickens Kyungsoo to the very core to know that someone as tender and caring as Kai has to go through this treatment from his own brother. Kyungsoo doesn’t have a twin, but he’d sure feel like shit if his older brother ever belittled him or bullied him like Jongin does to Kai.

What’s worse is that Kai and Jongin’s parents don’t do anything about it. Kyungsoo asked about them once, but Kai dismissed him quickly, saying something along the lines of “ _like my brother, they’ve been through things that no one can understand. If you knew the truth, you would agree they’re allowed to be this way.”_

Kyungsoo wanted to ask another question, but he held his tongue. It’s none of his business and he should stay out of it, but it’s obvious Kai takes the brunt of everything and Kyungsoo hates it. Hates that Kai think this is what families do to each other.

He once brought it up to his mom, but she just shook her head.

“It’s something you’re not yet old enough to understand Kyungsoo,” she had said. “Anything could of happen, but to me it sounds like Kai’s family seemed to have suffered from something. All you can do is be there for him when he needs it.”

Kyungsoo agreed to a point. He knows they suffered, Kai had told him that much, but he just doesn’t know  _what from_. It does kind of bug Kyungsoo that Kai seems to be the only one in his family that doesn’t seem to be affected from whatever suffering the rest of his family is experiencing. His is different. His heart isn’t scarred from something in the past, it’s being torn to pieces now.

It all confuses him endlessly, but one thing’s for certain. He wants to take Kai away from it all. He’s become so fond of Kai so quickly, that it almost scares him. Kyungsoo has never really dated before, let alone have a crush this big on someone. He’s not quite sure how Kai feels, if his sweet words and encouragement are something a bit deeper than friendship or a result of his tenderhearted personality Kyungsoo adores so much.

Only time will tell, he supposes. He can’t really do much besides drop hints or confess outright and seeing as he’s too chicken to confess, he’ll have to settle with dropping hints. At least for now.

“Kyungsoo! I see a car!” Kyungsoo smiles at his mom’s eager tone. He doesn't know who’s more excited for this sleep over: him or his mom.

He makes his way downstairs to see her with her face practically pressed against the glass, jumping away with a horrified face a few moments later. Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow.

“What?”

“His mother,” she breathes, eyes wide. “She saw me staring.”

Kyungsoo snorts. “That’s what you get- ow! Mom!”

She tuts her tongue, hitting his shoulder again and then pushing him towards the door. “Go answer the door like a proper host.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, stalking over to the front door. The doorbell rings and he opens the door, beaming up at Kai and his mother. “Hello Mrs. Kim.”

“Hello Kyungsoo,” she brings him in for a short hug. “I hope you know Kai’s been looking forward to this all week. He wouldn’t stop talking about it.”

Instead of being embarrassed like Kyungsoo would have been, Kai simply let a bashful smile grow on his face, eyes darting to the ground. It makes Kyungsoo’s heart pick up at how beautiful he looks.

“Hello, I’m Mrs. Do- Oh my.” Kyungsoo looks at his mother questioningly and sees her eyes double in size once again. He notices her gaze directed at Kai and faces him again, blinking in astonishment.

Kai grins, proudly showing off his assortments of pastries and bread lying in a wicker basket. Each of the individually wrapped goodies have small bows and ribbons decorating the top of their bags, stacking high enough to almost cover Kai’s face as he holds them.

“That’s a lot of bread,” Kyungsoo’s mother whispers and he almost rolls his eyes when she licks her lips. Of course his mother would be immediately drawn to the food.

Kai’s mother chuckles, a bit embarrassed. “I’m afraid he may have gone a little overboard, but he insisted.”

Kai bows the best he can without spilling the contents of the basket. “It’s so nice to meet you Mrs. Do. I’m Kai and this is my mother.”

Kyungsoo waits for his mother to stop gawking at the baked goods, rolling his eyes when she didn’t even seem to notice Kai speaking to her. He elbows her lightly and makes her jump. “Right! Hello. It’s nice to meet you too sweetie. Why don’t you come in, hm? Kyungsoo’s been looking forward to seeing you all day too.” Kyungsoo sighs and his mother just gives him a look over her shoulder. “Mrs. Kim, would you like to come inside for a bit? I can make you some warm coffee for your ride home.”

Kai’s mother smiles brightly, nodding. “That would be great! If you don’t mind, that is.”

At Kyungsoo’s mother’s nod and her little ‘ _of course!_ ’, both Kai and his own mother take off their snow boots at the door, Kai handing the basket of bread over before grinning at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo just grins back, gesturing him to follow him as he goes up the stairs. His mother, however, gives him a warning glance.

“Keep your door open, Do Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, ignoring her and guiding Kai down the hall until they get to his room. Kai tilts his head as they walk, looking perplexed.

“Why does she want us to keep the door open? Is it broken?”

Kyungsoo blushes a deep red, a little flustered. “Uh. S-So we don’t get cold?”

Kai blinks. “Cold?”

The other boy waves his hand, mentally berating himself for such a lame excuse. “Yeah, uhm. The heating isn’t very good in my room… So she wants me to keep the door open.”

“Ah, I understand. Your mother is so thoughtful then. I like her already.”

Kyungsoo sighs, holding his face for a second when they finally reach his room. “Please don’t let her hear you say that. She’s the weirdest person you could ever meet.”

To Kai’s credit, he seems to ignore the pretty flush decorating Kyungsoo’s cheeks and instead just continues to grin as they enter Kyungsoo’s bedroom. Kyungsoo tried to clean it as much as possible, but he’s still worried Kai might be a little grossed out at his old, stained carpet and his beat up desk against the wall next to his twin sized bed. He’s antsy, to say the least, considering Kai comes from such a rich family and the last time Kyungsoo was at his house, everything looked brand new and practically spotless.

Kai, however, just seems to look around in awe, brown eyes sparkling at the sight of the new surroundings. He touches the posters on the wall like they’re made of glass, expression so soft as he smiles at the little trinkets Kyungsoo has on his shelves.

Kyungsoo swallows nervously, palms sweaty. “So?” Kai looks up at him, smile never once disappearing. Kyungsoo hates how his heart picks up at the sight. “What do you think?”

Kai looks around one more time, chuckling to himself. “I like it.” He tilts his head, smiling down at Kyungsoo. “I like it a lot.”

 

✨

 

If there is one thing that Kai loves the most about Kyungsoo’s home, it’s the rustic and lived-in feel to it. Kai had never really been to other’s houses besides those within his own family. His grandparents own a house bigger than his own and even his aunts and uncles live in very high class communities where every house is brand new. Coming to Kyungsoo’s house, though, is definitely an experience that Kai’s grateful to have.

It’s more industrial looking and not as crisp and clean like his own home. Most of the technology in the home is either outdated or modified by Kyungsoo’s parents so instead of being sleek, top name brands like Kai’s used to, everything seems to be old looking and used. It’s amazing, though. The way Kyungsoo’s mother has used an old solar panel and reconstructed it to sit on the window sill like that of a picture frame, rewiring it so it hooks up to a charging station that the whole family can hook their phones up to. Or how Kyungsoo’s father made a little gadget to constantly stir your hot cocoa since Kyungsoo and his brother always used to complain how all the chocolate would settle at the bottom.

It’s all just so amazing for Kai and as he stares at the little fan-like machine being plopped into his cup of hot cocoa, he can’t help but to wish Jongin could be here to experience this too.

Kai giggles when the little machine starts whirring, fascinated with the way the beverage suddenly starts spinning once it reaches the bottom of the cup. “This is so cool!”

Kyungsoo smiles, rubbing the nape of his neck. “You get excited by the smallest things, you know that?”

“I can’t help it. We don’t have stuff like this at my place.” Kai takes a sip of his hot cocoa, licking away the foam that settles just above the top of his lips. “Your whole house is amazing honestly.”

They’re sitting in the kitchen now, Kai’s mother long gone since it was getting late and she needed to get back before it started snowing again. Both of them are seated at the kitchen table, Kai looking around at everything like some sort of man in a foreign land.

He gestures to the cabinets above the stove and counter on the other side of the room. “Are those actual wood? My family only has plastic and it looks so plain compared to yours.”

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. “Compared to mine?”

Kai purses his lips, looking down at the steaming drink. “Yours is pretty. Elegant even. I know you probably don’t think so but everything here just looks so….” He stops himself when he almost says “<i> _so human_ </i> _”_ , just biting his lip and sighing softly. “It is so old fashioned, it is almost refreshing to me since I have never really been to another person’s home besides my family’s..” His eyes grow wide when he hears Kyungsoo laugh quietly. “Why are you laughing?”

Kyungsoo waves his hand, shaking his head a little. “It’s just. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone call my place <i>refreshing</i>. I’ve had kids from school call it a “rust bucket” or “rundown”, but never <i>refreshing</i>.”

Frowning, Kai puts his cup down, leaning in a bit as he speaks. “People really say that to you?” At Kyungsoo’s nod, Kai’s eyebrows furrow. “But why?”

The other boy simply shrugs, eyes soft as he regards Kai with a warm smile. “Not everyone is as sweet as you are, Kai. Especially not in high school.”

Kai doesn’t really understand why but he feels the sudden need to comfort Kyungsoo, especially with the way he somberly peers into his hot cocoa. Kai tries his best to figure out what to do, feeling uneasy at the small sigh the other boy lets out. He thinks back to his brother, what he wishes he could do to Jongin when he sees his twin looking so down.

Hesitantly, Kai reaches across the table, lightly grasping Kyungsoo’s wrists since his hands are wrapped around the coffee cup so tightly and squeezing. He smiles softly when Kyungsoo’s eyes flit to his own, a spark of something in his eyes that Kai doesn’t quite understand.

He assumes it’s hope.

Hope at being understood.

Because that’s what Kyungsoo gives Kai, and he just wishes deep in his heart that Kyungsoo feels the same, that he’s just as desperate to be understood by someone.

“You know,” Kai says quietly, eyes bright as he lightly strokes over the little mole on Kyungsoo’s wrist, “people are cruel. They don’t realize just how much their words can affect those around them.” Kai purses his lips, thinking back to how Jongin once pushed him off of a swing when they were nine, how had he been human, he would have almost broke his arm. Kai doesn’t blame him, though. He found out from their mother later that that was  _Kai’s_ swing. That he and Jongin would play there every day until their mother would call them home for dinner. So Kai doesn’t blame him in the slightest. And that’s for one reason.

“People feel the need to put up walls to protect themselves because they think that will keep them happy… that it’ll help them ignore their own inner turmoil.” Kai looks looks Kyungsoo in the eye, noticing that same spark from before shining ever so brightly. “But it can be destructive to both them and those around them, and the sad part is that most of them are aware of that.”

Kai couldn’t even count on his fingers how many times Jongin has broken down, curling in on himself so much that he’s almost incoherent when their parents try to talk to him. He’s been to countless therapists and even was on medication for a while, but nothing helped. His inability to heal from the loss of his brother has affected him so severely that the only way he can deal with his sadness and anger, is to depend on his own coping methods. This, of course, usually involves his holing himself up in his room, spending more time with his friends than his own family, and, of course, taking it out on Kai himself.

Kyungsoo’s silent across the table, watching the other boy with soft eyes.

Kai licks his lips, taking a deep breath. “Don’t misunderstand, it’s not an excuse for them. You shouldn’t be treated any differently due to the fact you aren’t like the others and stand out amongst the crowd. It’s  _wrong_ because you of all people don’t deserve such horrible treatment Kyungsoo. Your so kind and despite being hurt by the other’s, you still remain so compassionate. It’s just…”

Blinking, Kai finds his mind going blank. It’s a strange feeling to him since he’s programmed to be able to communicate efficiently and for the first time in his life he can’t think of what to say, especially when Kyungsoo smiles and laces their fingers together. He feels like his heart is about to beat out of his chest and it makes him panic a little inside, but he’s so comforted by the way Kyungsoo giggles quietly, saying a little “you really are precious, you know that?”. He doesn’t continue speaking since he knows Kyungsoo understands what he was trying to say, but he can’t help but to have a sense of excitement surge through him.

Is this what it’s like to be tongue tied?

Kai wants to ask, but he has a nagging suspicion that he shouldn’t. For now, though, he just smiles at Kyungsoo, wondering what makes him so special that Kai is experiencing all of these new emotions.  
  


✨

 

Kai can honestly say he had the time of his life at Kyungsoo’s house. Not only did they go out and roll around in the snow, but they binge watched one of Kyungsoo’s favorite shows and ate a ton of miscellaneous snacks Kyungsoo’s mother had made. Kai’s never really been one to have company like Kyungsoo since usually only his mother will spend time with him after she gets off from work. She likes to read beside him and play with his hair. Other times she’ll tell him all about work and sometimes even take him with her. His father has been entirely too busy these days, but when he can, he likes to watch documentaries of all kinds with Kai.

It’s nice, but being with Kyungsoo is different for some reason. It’s a good kind of different, though. One that has him smiling, even now as he comes out of charging stasis for the night.

He’s home now, having left Kyungsoo’s place yesterday morning after Kai had made the other boy’s family a feast for breakfast. It made him feel a bit better about the other’s parents accepting him without too much suspicion, although he thinks Kyungsoo’s mom may know just what he is. She never said a word though, and continued treating Kai like she would her own son.

It was fun and Kai can honestly say he’s never been in an environment like that, one that’s so lively and upbeat. He can’t even remember the last time his entire family ate together like that if he’s being honest with himself. His parents always kept the conversation going and there wasn’t a tension filled silence even once. It was just so intriguing that Kai can’t help but to wish to return soon. Not only were Kyungsoo’s parents so enjoyable to be around, Kyungsoo himself is just so much more charming in person. He makes little jokes that make Kai giggle entirely too much and smiled so brilliantly, Kai can still feel his heart pick up at the memory.

It seems Kyungsoo really loved his presence too despite Kai’s worry he would get bored of him and force him to go home, even staying up with Kai until the early hours of the morning just to talk to him.

They talked about everything and anything, like usual, but the thing that excites Kai the most is that Kyungsoo offered to take him to a theme park on what he called a “date”, something Kai’s only heard about in movies. He had a few concerns, though, considering it was still the middle of winter but according to Kyungsoo it’s an indoor park so it’ll be fun.

Kai’s ecstatic to say the least, so ecstatic, in fact, that he doesn't even notice how sluggish his movements seem to be as he picks out an outfit for later. Or how his eyes feel heavy as he glances at the clock on his wall, remembering he should cook Jongin breakfast before leaving around eleven. It’s only when Kai’s in the middle of finishing Jongin’s omelet does he notices his movements are becoming a bit jerky in a strange, robotic way. Even his twin begins to stare at him weird from his seat at the kitchen counter, looking a bit disturbed at the sight.

“Uh, you okay over there?” Jongin asks, voice extremely uncomfortable.

Kai furrows his eyebrows, trying his hardest to flip the egg but his hands won’t allow him. “They’re not working…”

He hears his twin slide off of his seat, his feet padding over to Kai’s spot in front of the stove to peer down at the pan. “What… isn’t working?”

Grunting quietly in frustration, Kai tries to lift the spatula and rotate his wrist to flip the omelet, but nothing works. His hands are practically useless. Just as he’s about to ask for help, Jongin carefully pushes him to the side, warm hand brushing Kai’s as he takes the spatula and flips the food for him. Kai blinks a few times, not used to such soft treatment from his brother but welcomes it nonetheless. He even has a hint of a smile on his face as he watches Jongin check the underside of the omelet to make sure it’s properly cooked, feeling content being by his side like this.

Jongin turns off the stove after a few moments, glancing at Kai in confusion. His eyes widen in horror not even a moment later, though, when he makes eye contact with his brother. “Jesus fuck!”

Kai stumbles back, wondering why Jongin suddenly looks so pale and is scrabbling backwards until his back hits the counter, hands gripping it for dear life.

“Jongin?” his voice is suddenly full of concern, afraid his twin might be having some sort of anxiety attack again. It’s happened in the past. He gets triggered easily, especially by Kai. Although, this time his twin’s giving him the same look he gave him when they first met when they were nine. Like Kai’s some sort of ghost here to haunt him. “Jongin, what’s wrong?”

They both freeze when Kai’s voice gets a bit distorted, his tones fluctuating unnecessarily without his control. Kai looks down at his hands, frowning.

Jongin fidgets in front of him, licking his lips and swallowing harshly multiple times before speaking, voice a little winded. “What the hell is going on with you? Are you short circuiting or something?”

Kai goes to answer, but closes his mouth immediately, not wanting to speak again and possibly scare his brother. He shakes his head instead, confusion creeping onto his expression.

His twin’s eyes narrow in suspicion. “Then why the fuck is your eye glowing like you’re about to explode or some shit?”

“My eyes?” Kai bites his lip when Jongin cringes at the sound of his voice once again, whispering a soft ‘ _sorry’_  before running to the nearest bathroom. He peers into the mirror, gasping at his appearance. One eye remains it’s deep chocolate brown, a reflection of Jongin’s own, but the other is a neon turquoise, a pulsing glow in the iris. Now he understands Jongin’s sudden outburst. He does look quite unnatural, especially with how even his pupil is contracting as if he’s looking into the sun.

He whines, knowing exactly what’s going on and stumbling pass Jongin who seemed to have followed close behind him to the bathroom. If he doesn’t hurry, his system will shut down and go into a forced charging session until he has enough energy to properly function. This has never happened before but he knows when his energy supply is too depleted, he loses control of some of the regulated codes in his system. It’s a glitch of sorts. He just needs to get to his room as soon as possible.

He sluggishly makes his way to his room, falling to his knees and tapping on the little touch screen on the side of his bed. He feels tears prick at his eyes when his fingers don’t even listen to him, sobbing softly when his whole body seems to start to shutdown to conserve energy.

“Kai what are you- Kai!”

Kai doesn’t even realize that he’s slumped so much that he’s fallen onto his side, vision randomly darkening as he cries for Jongin until his brother helps him sit up. He clutches him so his chest for a minute, trying to understand what’s going on. “Kai, what’s going on? Kai talk to me.  _Please_.”

He can barely get any words out at this point, tongue feeling like dead weight in his mouth. “N-Need… charge.”

Jongin’s eyebrows furrow for moment, eyes flitting to the screen on the side of Kai’s bed. He taps on the instructions to activate the charging station built inside, it being tailor fit for Kai as a quick way of charging him in emergencies like this. When the bed hums softly, Jongin quickly lifts Kai to the best of his ability and helps him lay down.

Kai can barely keep his eyes open at this point, but he gets dull glimpses of Jongin’s panicked expression and picks up on his unintelligible whispers. They’re only flashes, though, and each flash gets shorter and shorter until there’s none at all. Kai wants to tell Jongin he’s fine, especially when he hears the other boy screaming for him to wake up, but he can’t.

He’s forced into a quiet stasis against his will.  
  


✨

 

Jongin is a mess.

He was barely able to hold it together the moment Kai had slumped and started to grow weaker. He was sent to the past in a matter of seconds at the whole ordeal, feeling like he just witnessed the death of his twin all over again. He was sobbing, screaming for the other to just hold on, to just open his eyes one more time.

He should feel stupid for letting his reality blur with some past memory like that, but it felt too real.

Especially when he watched Kai take his last breath before laying eerily still.

Jongin called his father and screamed into the phone that he needed his help, that Kai is gone forever, but after a lot of deep breaths and his father’s soft voice, he was able to calm down enough to get a grip on reality. That Kai was just too low on energy and his body went into it’s autopilot mode to conserve energy.

He yelled at his father, anguish turning to anger in a flash. Not understanding what anyone was thinking making a creature like this to look like they’re  _dying_  when all they need is to recharge. He ranted for what felt like hours until his father hung up on him, texting him a moment later that something came up at work and that he’d call him later to make sure he and Kai were okay.

It happens a lot when Jongin gets upset and tries to call him during the day. He’s used to it by now. No one wants to deal with him when he’s like this.

He sits at the end of Kai’s bed now, almost three hours after the whole ordeal started, back against the wall and knees drawn up to his chest. His eyes sting and his throat feels raw from the initial shock of it all. Even now he feels a few tears escaping every once and awhile, feeling utterly alone and helpless as he watches Kai’s chest rise and fall as he ‘sleeps’.

It still disgusts Jongin. The fact he was so worried over a fucking  _robot_.

But he couldn’t help it.

That fear he saw in Kai’s eyes mirrored his own twins back when he….

“Fuck, not again,” he bites out, hands carding through his own hair and pulling as he tries to ground himself, gut twisting as a fresh flood of tears runs down his face.

This wound he’s been nursing for years has always felt like it never healed, but now more than ever it’s especially painful.

Why can’t he just get over it?

Jongin bites his own hand to muffle his sobs, frustrated that he can’t stop. He slams his hand down on the bed suddenly, just about to get up and walk around to try to calm down when he feels soft fingers brush against his own.

He hiccups, eyes snapping open and darting to Kai. He sees the AI Unit has maneuvered himself so he’s leaning his body to the right, looking completely uncomfortable despite the concern etched onto his synthetic features. He lightly squeezes Jongin’s fingers, voice quiet when he speaks.

“I’m here Jongin… I’m-,” Kai gulps and Jongin can tell just by the look his unnaturally blue eyes that he understands what Jongin’s going through at the moment, “I’m still here with you.”

Jongin trembles, wanting so badly to throw himself down and hug Kai in relief but conflicted because he knows it won’t do anything. Jongin could care less about the AI Unit in front of him. It’s his brother that he needs, not this hunk of junk.

Still, he unconsciously squeezes Kai’s fingers, it helping ground him in a way and calm him down. Once his breathing slows, though, he pulls away and curls into himself. He wipes his face with the sleeve of his hoodie, sniffing quietly.

“What the fuck just happened?” Kai sighs softly in response, trying to sit up but only squirming instead. Jongin stares for a few moments until he realizes he still doesn’t have enough energy to sit up.

He reaches out and yanks Kai up by his arm, uncaring about the bewildered look on the robot’s face when he does. Kai licks his lips, using a hand to balance himself so he doesn’t fall back.

“I needed to recharge.”

“No shit, I think I figured that part out. I meant what did you do to even get to that point, you moron.”

Kai looks down at the sheet in front of him, picking at the material there. He looks as if he feels nervous, but Jongin’s pretty sure he’s just checking his fine motor skills to make sure he’s charging properly.

Kai doesn’t  _feel_  anything.

“I slept over at Kyungsoo’s yesterday and wasn’t able to charge at night.”

Jongin’s eye twitches when the other mentions Kyungsoo. “Why?”

“My skin glows when I’m charging at night...” Kai notices the other’s eyes narrow in suspicion and squeaks, subtly scooting away. “And…. I may have skipped charging last night… as well.”

“Let me guess,” Jongin says, voice sarcastic as his upper lip raises in annoyance. He looks to the walkie talkie sitting on the nightstand, Kai following his line of sight and shrinking under his glare. “You were talking to Kyungsoo.”

Kai nods solemnly, and Jongin feels his gut twist in anger. “To think I was actually worried about you.”

The AI Unit’s eyes widen, scooting a bit closer as a small smile tugs at the corner of his lips. “About me?”

Jongin frowns. “You looked like you were  _dying_  Kai. Of course I was fucking worried about  _you_.” He waves his hand, huffing. “Do you know how much trouble I would have gotten in with my parents? They probably would have blamed  _me_  for it.”

“Oh,” Kai says, looking down and continuing to pick at the sheet. His little smile turns remorseful and Jongin has to look away before his own guilt can naw at him.

“Are you…” Jongin starts to say, struggling to make small talk but feeling like he shouldn’t leave Kai’s side just yet, not after seeing him shut down like that. “Are you feeling better?” When Kai’s bright eyes flit to his own, he stutters. “D-Dad was telling me to make sure…”

Kai folds his hands in his lap, looking at Jongin softly and speaking quietly. “I still feel weak… I don’t think I’ll be able to walk properly for a few more hours.”

Jongin’s about to speak when he notices the robot’s eyes gaze at something behind him, gasping in horror and making Jongin nearly jump out of his skin. “What?! What’s wrong?!”

“My date!”

“Your what?”

“My date! With Kyungsoo!”

Jongin sends him a bewildered expression. “A… date.”

“Yes!”

“Do you even know what a ‘date’ is Kai?”

Kai nods enthusiastically. “It is a pastry! But I think when Kyungsoo called our outing a ‘date’ he was not referring to the food…” Jongin raises an eyebrow, mood dropping considerably, his stomach twisting in irritation. Kai’s probably just making this up, there’s no way Kyungsoo would want to go on a date with him. Kai’s the most boring person Jongin’s ever met.

“Well dad says you can’t leave your bed until he gets home. He needs to check your circuits or something. Personally I don’t give a fuck what you do, just don’t get me in trouble, got it?”

Jongin takes it as his cue to leave the moment Kai’s face falls and tears start to prick the corner of his eyes. He can’t take looking at Kai,  _especially_  when he looks like some sort of kicked puppy. It makes him feel so uncomfortable, his gut twisting with a mixture of guilt and confusion, so he just leaves as soon as he can.

He’s almost off the bed when Kai’s hand shoots out and wraps around his wrist. “Wait!”

Begrudgingly, Jongin turns to look at Kai again, upper lip ticking in annoyance. The AI Unit’s eyes are still a glowing a bright turquoise and it makes his gaze all the more piercing and intimidating, even if his expression is hesitant and soft. Jongin doesn’t do anything but stare back considering the other’s death grip on his wrist keeps him from going anywhere.

“Please,” the AI Unit says, eyes frantic. “I-I know this isn’t something you’d want to do but…” Kai trails off, mumbling the rest of the sentence. Jongin rolls his eyes.

“I can’t hear you,” he spits.

“I said…. I want you go on the date… in my place.”

Jongin blinks.

Once.

Twice.

“You want me to what?!”

 

 

* * *

LONG TIM E NO SEE GUYS DID YOU MISS ME BECAUSE HOLY HELL I WAS GONE FOR WAY TOO LONG. This update is like.... 5 months overdye omg I'm sosososososoososo sorry. I promise you I have NOT abandoned it. I actually adore this story and I still have lots of plans for it so don't worry! I think I'll have at most.... four more chapters? I'm not sure because it depends on how I space it out and all  you know? The last ones were short right? Idk. Apparently idk my own fic so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ The point is: it'll get done. I promise you guys hahaha.

Anyways sorry if this wasn't a great update but the next one will be fun  **( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)** Will Jongin go on the date with Kyungsoo instead? Or the better question is: can he fool Kyungsoo into thinking he's Kai??? Probably not but hey who knows.

See you guys soon for the next update!!


	5. My Melancholy Heart

Jongin’s not sure how Kai managed to convince him to do this, but here he is, driving to Kyungsoo’s place to pick him up to go on their ‘date’.

 

He likes to tell himself he’s only going to make sure Kyungsoo really doesn’t know what Kai is. The last thing he wants is the embarrassment of Kyungsoo possibly spreading the rumor that he lives with a damn robot modeled after his dead brother. Then again, from what Jongin has observed in school, the other boy doesn’t really seem to have any friends at all. Even if he did want to spread rumors about him he’d have no one to tell and Jongin feels a bit safe because of that.

 

He figures he could at least try to figure out the other boy’s motives for wanting to spend so much time with Kai, at least. He has a feeling he knows exactly _why_ , but he doesn’t want to accept it.

 

It can’t be possible.

 

No one can like a person who doesn’t have an actual heart.

 

It’s just not natural.

 

Jongin grips the steering wheel a little harder as his car approaches Kyungsoo’s house, swallowing harshly.

 

He’s nervous and he doesn’t even understand why. It’s not like this is actually a date. Hell, if Kyungsoo knew Jongin was here instead of Kai, he’d probably slam the door right in his face. Although, the other boy has been letting Jongin hang around him more often in school.

 

Jongin’s friends still question him about why he ditches them all the time, but he shrugs them off. They all drop him in a heartbeat for their girlfriends anyway so it’s not like Jongin cares.

 

Taemin and Baekhyun are really the only ones who encourage him to leave them during study hall to go sit with Kyungsoo instead. They always say they’re probably going to nap anyway so he might as well go. Weird thing is, though, whenever he looks over to them from Kyungsoo’s table they’re just playing on their phones like usual.

 

It's strange, but Jongin never comments on it.

 

Kyungsoo is standing on his front porch, wrapped in a thick scarf and a long coat that reaches his knees. He practically looks like a giant caterpillar with his hood up the way it is and Jongin can't help but to think it's adorable. His lips quirk into a half smile when he sees Kyungsoo wave enthusiastically, carefully walking over to Jongin's car and opening the door.

 

He gets in, releasing a heavy sigh when he feels the heat from the air vents. "Oh god it's freezing outside."

 

Jongin chuckles. "You didn't wait out there for too long did you?"

 

Kyungsoo looks at him, eyes bright. "No. My mom just kicked me out because apparently I was annoying her asking if she saw your car here yet."

 

It's strange, how Kyungsoo seems less like an irritated lion when he thinks Jongin is Kai. It’s almost amusing, but a part of him feels a little bitter about it.

 

What he did to ever earn Kyungsoo’s scowl anytime they’re together, he’ll never know.

 

“So…” Jongin says awkwardly, fidgeting.

 

“So....” Kyungsoo stares, smiling wide. The running car engine is the only thing that fills the silence between them, and while Jongin would normally be irritated, he can’t help but to laugh.

 

“You never told me where we’re going.”

 

“Oh!” Much to Jongin’s amusement, Kyungsoo blushes, digging in his pocket for some sort of device. He flips it open. It looks like some sort of outdated phone only with some sort of battery pack literally taped to the back. “What’s the code to your car?”

 

“89D7RL5,” Jongin says slowly, relieved that Kyungsoo didn’t expect him to actually drive anywhere.

 

Kyungsoo presses send and they both wait a few minutes, the car making a little ‘ _ding_ ’ to signal it received the autopilot directions. It hums to life, the wheel retracting a little as the car pulls itself out onto the road. Jongin looks at Kyungsoo suspiciously.

 

“Where are you taking me?”

 

Kyungsoo laughs. “You’re very suspicious today, Kai. I thought I already told you last night.”

 

Jongin gulps, remembering himself. He forgot he was supposed to be replacing that accursed robot.

 

“Uh-” Jongin blanks, internally panicking.

 

How does Kai act?

 

What would he even say??

 

Probably something really stupid.

 

Jongin puts on an embarrassed smile, scratching the back of his head and giving a little ‘ _hehehe_ ’ under his breath. “S-Sorry. I’m just really excited.”

 

Jongin breathes an internal sigh of relief when Kyungsoo seems to buy it.

 

“Well if you can’t remember, just know it’s fun. And colorful. And I bought us the package deal with the closest parking so we won’t freeze to death.” Kyungsoo has a smug grin. He digs in his pocket and brings out a deck of cards. “Now, do you want to play cards until we get there? You said you’ve never played them before.”

 

Jongin makes a face, blinking a few times.

 

He hates cards.

 

His parents used to force him to play it all the time when he was a kid and it was the most boring thing. He’d rather stick to his video games. At least Jongin actually _feels_ like he’s enjoying himself with them. Playing cards are literally just torture.

 

Jongin mentally groans because they’re _actual_ playing cards. Not the holo ones with the pretty pictures that actually move as you hold them. At least with those, there is some form of entertainment.

 

But Kyungsoo looks so giddy at the idea of playing with him, that it actually tugs at his heart. Jongin even blushes when Kyungsoo starts nudging him with a smile.

 

“Come on! Don’t be shy. I know you don’t know how to play, but I’ll go easy on you.”

 

Jongin looks at the car’s gps system, it saying they have almost an entire hour until they reach their destination. He sighs a little. Obviously, Kai had been really excited for this and would probably be _gushing_ like an idiot at the thought of playing with Kyungsoo. If Jongin says no, Kyungsoo would get suspicious. It’s bad enough Jongin already has so many strikes against him with this already and it’s still soon enough that Kyungsoo can tell them to turn around if he finds out it _is_ Jongin.

 

Looks like he’s going to have to bite the bullet.

 

✨

 

“Hah! I’m out!” Jongin exclaims, laying down his hand of cards.

 

Kyungsoo frowns, staring down at them. “How?”

 

“That’s four to one. You owe me something. Three somethings.”

 

Kyungsoo shakes his head, hand pressing against his cheek. “How are you so good?”

 

Jongin grins. “I’m a quick learner.” Kyungsoo chuckles at Jongin’s little dance that he does in his seat as he shuffles the cards. “Care to lose again?”

 

“As much as I would _love_ to, we’re almost there.” Kyungsoo takes the cards from Jongin, their fingers brushing ever so slightly. For some reason, Jongin is entranced by that. “Have you guessed where we’re going yet? We passed like five exit signs for it already- You okay, Kai?”

 

Jongin swallows, giving a weak smile. “Huh? Uh yeah! Sorry. It’s just… Your fingers are cold.”

 

_Smooth, dumbass._

 

Kyungsoo rubs his hands together. “Yeah I don’t do well in the winter. I get cold way too easily. Remember? I have to carry a pair of gloves with me everywhere.”

 

“Ah, yeah.” Jongin chuckles nervously. “You should put them on now. Or hold them up to the vents. I can turn up the heat for you.”

 

Kyungsoo smiles at that. “Or you could always hold them instead.” Jongin chokes on air, coughing loudly. He blinks multiple times as Kyungsoo practically cackles next to him. “I’m kidding, Kai.”

 

“R-Right.” Jongin swallows hard as they fall into silence. The car takes a right, coming to a stop because of traffic ahead. He stares hard at Kyungsoo’s hand on his thigh, taking deep, slow breaths. There are butterflies erupting in his stomach, his heart racing. He doesn’t even give himself a chance to second guess it, instead giving into his desires in that moment and pressing his sweaty palm to Kyungsoo’s, lacing their fingers together.

 

It’s Kyungsoo’s turn to choke now, a heavy blush rising to his cheeks. “What are you doing?”

 

“Holding your hand…?”

 

“Yes, but _why_?”

 

“I don’t know! You told me to!”

 

“I said I was kidding!”

 

“Well I didn’t believe you!”

 

Both of them fall into silence, staring at each other. Jongin swallows harshly again.

 

“Do you not… like it?”

 

“I- uh.” Kyungsoo hesitantly squeezes Jongin’s hand, choosing to look everywhere but at him. “I do..”

 

Jongin nods, settling with staring ahead at the traffic in front of them.

 

They both don’t really speak, blushing to the tips of their ears. It’s silent up until Jongin breaks it with a sudden gasp.

 

“Oh my god…” Jongin says, astonished. “ _This_ is where we’re going?!”

 

Kyungsoo chuckles, looking at Jongin fondly. “You really did forget didn’t you?”

 

Jongin’s too overwhelmed by the excitement coursing through him to remember he’s supposed to be acting a part. He’s also distracted by the huge theme park approaching them, the large logo of ‘ _Lotte World’_ coming closer and closer as the car pulls into the parking lot rather than the parking garage like everyone else in line.

 

Jongin can’t help the shit eating grin spread wide on his lips and he looks to Kyungsoo in pure _delight_. Especially when the car parks itself and indicates it’s safe for them to exit the vehicle.

 

“We’re at _Lotte World._ ”

 

Kyungsoo giggles breathlessly, smiling mirroring Jongin’s. “We are.”

 

“I haven’t been here since-” Jongin starts, glancing at the ticketing line they’ll have to wait in. His words die on this tongue though, expression falling.

 

Jongin remembers shoving at his brother playfully while waiting in that very line, running around their parents in excitement. Their hearts were both about to beat out of their chests since it was their first time at such a grand park and they both couldn’t sit still. Their mother yelled at them non stop that day to behave, but for the six-year-old twins they could hardly listen.

 

He hasn’t been back since.

 

He has such fond memories of this place because of the mayhem he and his brother created, but no matter who invited him, he could not bring himself to come.

 

He even declined a spot for the school trip to the theme park, feigning sickness when asked why.

 

But now he’s here.

 

A part of him still feels the same eagerness to just charge through those gates and find the scariest ride in the park just like last time. Another feels as if it is eating away at his bones, his skin crawling with an anxiety he knows he is no match for.

 

What if he breaks down? He won’t have his parents or Kai or-

 

“Kai?” Jongin blinks, the sound of the AI Unit’s name throwing him off and dragging him out of his thoughts for a moment. He feels Kyungsoo squeeze his hand when he looks at him, Jongin’s eyes flitting down to their laced fingers. “Are you alright?”

 

Jongin takes a few shallow breaths, sitting eerily still.

 

Is he alright?

 

He glances back to the line at the ticketing booth again, but this time he doesn’t feel that same heaviness in his heart. Instead, he only feels Kyungsoo’s warm hand against his.

 

“Yeah,” Jongin smiles genuinely. “Yeah, I think I am.”

 

Kyungsoo looks at him a little funny, but then nods. “Then let’s go.”

  


✨

  


Kyungsoo slumps against the seat in the little cabin of the ferris wheel, all of his cheap stuffed animals Jongin had won for him in his hands. Jongin settles in on the other side of him, holding his single bear plushie to his chest. Kyungsoo sighs when the park attendant closes their cabin door.

 

“God, my feet hurt.”

 

Jongin chuckles, a warm smile on his lips as he looks at the other boy across from him.

 

The moment they entered the park, it was like all of his memories came back to him almost instantly. He was overwhelmed, to say the least, but Kyungsoo must have noticed the panic in his eyes. Jongin doesn’t know what the other boy was thinking when he pulled Jongin to the nearest bench and helped him breathe, but Kyungsoo didn’t ask questions.

 

In fact, he had only smiled, softly speaking to him until Jongin could properly think straight.

 

Jongin had waved it off as pretending he wasn’t used to being around so many people since Kai would probably react the same way… right? Who knows. Who cares. All that matters is Kyungsoo bought it and seemed to leave it alone after that.

 

He isn’t quite sure why he kept up the whole Kai act as they maneuvered their way to a snack shop with cotton candy, but he did. Deep down, he kinda likes the way Kyungsoo looks at him when he thinks it’s Kai. He likes how Kyungsoo is so gentle and not as sharp with his words, unlike how he is with Jongin at school.

 

It turns out, though, that pretending to be his AI Unit wasn’t as hard as he initially thought it would be. Whether it was from the sugar high of the cotton candy and hot chocolate they drank, or just the lively atmosphere of the theme park in general, he felt like a kid again.

 

And he sure acted like one too.

 

In his excitement, Jongin had dragged Kyungsoo all over the park, choosing the scariest rides first despite the other’s complaints. Kyungsoo had tried to bring him on rides like the tea cups, but Jongin was too focused on the roller coasters.

 

From rides, Jongin went straight to the games. He even said he’d win Kyungsoo something. Thanks to his great arm from playing baseball with his friends, he had no problem with most of the games. Kyungsoo decided to try his hand and won him a fuzzy brown grizzly bear. Jongin at first asked why that one but was stunned when Kyungsoo said ‘you remind me of a bear sometimes’. Which of course, Jongin was blushing about for almost thirty minutes afterwards.

 

Even now, as the ferris wheel is about to take off, he feels his cheeks heating up at the thought. He looks down at his bear, a little conflicted because he actually feels fondness in his chest at the sight of the stuffed animal.

 

What is he? Four?

 

“I’m so glad they have a section inside. I think I would die if this was out in the cold,” Kyungsoo says quietly. He glances at Jongin, gaze lingering.

 

“Yeah,” Jongin agrees. He stares back at Kyungsoo, feeling strangely vulnerable for a second when he swears the other boy’s gaze turns calculating. “Thank for… winning me this.”

 

Kyungsoo scoffs. “It’s the least I could do after you won me like six prizes. You didn’t have to do that, you know.”

 

Jongin smiles. “I know.”

 

Kyungsoo mirrors his smile, eyes turning a little soft. There is a sad glint to them and before Jongin can ask what’s wrong, Kyungsoo look out to the side.

 

The ferris wheel starts to slow down, leaving their cabin at the very top. Jongin’s lips part in awe at the clear barrier ceilings keeping the cold out but allowing them to see the city below them.

 

Jongin expression turns somber all of a sudden, heart tugging in his chest at the memory of Kai tugging at his arm in excitement. Him pointing at the city below and exclaiming a little “ _Look Jonginnie! We’re on top of the world!”_

 

Tears slowly pool in Jongin’s eyes, making him close them as his face scrunches up ever so slightly. He remembers Kai bouncing around excitedly, making Jongin scream at him to stop moving as the cabin started to rock.

 

Jongin hugs the bear tighter as he starts to shake.

 

Kyungsoo’s soft voice breaks the silence between them. “It almost looks like we’re on top of the world, doesn’t it?”

 

Jongin looks up, blinking a couple of times. He doesn’t even feel the couple of tears that fall from his lashes. Kyungsoo gives him a small smile.

 

“You know, minus the huge ass skyscrapers in the background. And the fact this ferris wheel is only nineteen meters.”

 

Jongin sniffs, rubbing his eyes before glancing back out at the city. “Yeah,” he says, voice a little hoarse. “You’re right.”

 

Kyungsoo hums, but doesn’t say anything more, even as the ride moves again.

 

A sudden thought enters Jongin’s mind and he chews his lip in contemplation, staring at Kyungsoo’s side profile.

 

“M-My brother…” Jongin suddenly says, the words feeling strange on his tongue. They catch Kyungsoo’s attention nonetheless. “He… He tells me how sorry he is all the time that he irritates you… you know, at school.”

 

Dark eyes stare into his own, before they’re cast down at Kyungsoo’s lap. The other boy has a small smile on his face as he shakes his head. “Jongin doesn’t irritate me.”

 

“He... doesn’t?”

 

Kyungsoo laughs a little. “No. I mean… Maybe at first but not anymore.” Kyungsoo looks right at him again and Jongin feels his heart skip a beat.

 

Jongin swallows, looking anywhere but at the other boy. “But you always seem to want him gone when he tries to approach you. Especially in study hall even though you’re not studying or anything-” Jongin freezes, eyes wide as he glances at Kyungsoo, toes curling when he sees the other boy’s amused smirk. “That’s… what Jongin always says, at least.”

 

“Jongin says all that?” Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow, and Jongin swears he’s never seen the other boy look this smug before in his entire life.

 

“I overhear him in his room sometimes.”

 

Kyungsoo lets out a giggle, shaking his head again. Jongin stares stupidly in awe at how fond the other boy is looking at him right now. “Well, to be honest, I’ve recently gained a new perspective on Jongin. So be sure to tell him that.”

 

Jongin fidgets a little, gripping the teddy bear in his lap. “Does that mean… he can sit with you at study hall?”

 

The ride stops and as the park employee opens the little door to their cabin. Kyungsoo grabs his things, offering a hand to Jongin to help him out. “Tell Jongin,” he starts, walking with the other in tow, “that he can sit with me anytime now.”

 

Jongin stops for a few moments, expression a little shocked as Kyungsoo walks ahead of him. A smile slowly creeps onto his lips, eyes brightening. His chest feels so light and airy, and he doesn’t hesitate to do a little jump in pure happiness before running to catch up with Kyungsoo.

 

He’s still grinning as they make their way back to the car. Jongin makes sure to help Kyungsoo load all of his prizes in the back seat before opening the other boy's door for him. He seems surprised, but thankful as he gets in, and it takes all Jongin has not to skip to the driver side with how lighthearted he’s feeling.

 

“Please start the car. I’m freezing.”

 

Jongin presses the brake once he gets settled in, and presses the start button. “I could always hold your hand again.”

 

Kyungsoo snorts. “Just start the car.”

 

They both laugh breathily as the engine starts, Kyungsoo cranking up the heat and holding his hands to the vents immediately after. Jongin plays with the navigation, making sure it has Kyungsoo’s address before pressing start to signal the car to go into auto-drive. The steering wheel retracts and the car slowly pulls out of the parking space before making its way to the highway.  

 

Jongin gives Kyungsoo a hopeful look.

 

“Have any other card games you can teach me?”

 

Kyungsoo stares for a few moments before grinning. “Ever heard of Rummy?”

  


✨

  


Jongin shivers, hands deep in the pockets of his heavy winter coat. He gives a small smile when Kyungsoo unlocks his front door and steps in a little.

 

“I guess I’ll talk to you later.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Kyungsoo hesitates in the doorway, licking his lips nervously. He looks at Jongin, then down at his feet. Jongin’s hands nervously curl into fists when he swears Kyungsoo glances down at his lips.

 

He wouldn’t…. Would he?

 

A part of Jongin hopes he would, and he even steps forward a little, eyes darting back and forth between Kyungsoo’s.

 

Kyungsoo’s lips part and Jongin mimics the action without thinking, mind and heart racing.

 

“Kyung-”

 

“Tell Kai I said hi.”

 

Jongin blinks multiple times, his lips now forming a tight line. He backs up a couple steps, completely stunned.

 

“I- Wait. You mean you knew this entire time?” Jongin asks, voice accusingly sharp.

 

Kyungsoo sighs and Jongin’s a little bewildered when it seems to be in relief. “Well, yeah. I mean, not at first. You felt off, but it wasn’t until a little after we got to the park that I got a little suspicious.”

 

“B-But how?”

 

Kyungsoo genuinely laughs, leaning against the door frame casually. “You lack that innocence that Kai has in his eyes whenever he looks at the world around him. He wears his heart on his sleeve, you though….you’re a little more closed off.” Kyungsoo hesitates, looking at Jongin softly now. “Although I’d like to think you actually enjoyed yourself today considering you never complained once.”

 

Jongin fidgets in place, kicking at the snow in front of him as a bright blush creeps onto his cheeks. “I did…” The other gives a breathy laugh and Jongin feels his whole body heating up. ”But then why did you continue on with the date if you knew I wasn’t Kai?”

 

“Kai made me promise to give you a chance and I did. I meant what I said about the whole sitting with me anytime at school. Just… Come up to me. You don’t have to make a show out of it everytime. You always make everyone look at us and that’s usually what makes me so irritated with you.”

 

Jongin bites his lip, eyes mischievous as he cocks a hip. “And how exactly do I make a show out of simply coming up to you, Do Kyungsoo?”

 

“That,” Kyungsoo points, glaring. “That right there.”

 

“Why, whatever do you mean?”

 

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “You’re a hotshot in school and you know it. Don’t play dumb. You breathe and the girl next to you swoons. You’re an attention grabber and I’m… not.”

 

“Do I make you swoon too?”

 

“Jongin.”

 

Jongin laughs merrily. “I’m kidding.”

 

“Yeah well, I’m not. I’ve always been the type to just fade into the background. It’s hard for me to have so many eyes on me and to not feel uncomfortable. But with you, it’s impossible to avoid the attention.”

 

Jongin thinks for a few moments, before nodding. “Then, let’s meet in the computer lab instead. Barely anyone goes in there during study hall. No one will be looking.”

 

There is a brief silence and the other boy just stares stupidly. “You really want to spend time with me that badly, huh?”

 

“I do,” Jongin says truthfully. “I really do.”

 

It takes a few moments but eventually, Kyungsoo nods. “Fine. We’ll go there instead.”

 

“Great,” Jongin smiles, a bit too dreamily than he would like to admit.

 

“By the way… your brother. Something must have been really wrong if he didn’t come. Is he alright?”

 

And just like that, the airy feeling in his chest is swiped away with a single swoop once again.

 

Kai.

 

It’s always Kai.

 

Why does _Kai_ always have to be the one their conversations end up being about?

 

Why is _Kai_ the one to always ruin his good mood in one way or another?

 

Jongin barely recognizes the anger welling up inside of him, but it’s too late by the time he does. He clenches his jaw, not really knowing what to say as he looks to Kyungsoo.

 

“He didn’t feel like coming.”

 

Never, in the time Jongin has known Kyungsoo, has he ever seen an expression so hurt and defeated come across the other boy’s features. Kyungsoo recovers though, his smile turning weak as he nods in acknowledgment. “Ah, I see.”

 

Jongin doesn’t know what to do after that, just standing there shivering in the cold. Kyungsoo clears his throat.

 

“I guess… I’ll see you at school.”

 

“Yeah,” Jongin says awkwardly. “Thanks again for today.”

 

Kyungsoo just nods, bidding him a quiet goodnight. Jongin wants to say something else, because the disappointed expression the other boy is trying so hard to cover up bothers him to no end. He doesn’t, though. Just giving a small dip of his head before going back to his car.

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t close the door until Jongin starts his car and goes to leave, waving one last time before Jongin drives off.

 

The entire trek home has Jongin thinking about the other boy’s reaction.

 

He had looked so sorrowful… so… Heartbroken.

 

Jongin’s eyes widen as the answer slaps him right in the face. Something he had had suspicions about, but is now confirmed.

 

Kyungsoo likes Kai.

 

Actually really _likes_ Kai.

 

“Fuck,” Jongin says under his breath as he pulls into his driveway. The light still on in one of the upstairs rooms doesn’t go unnoticed, and Jongin doesn’t look forward to being bombarded with the thousands of questions Kai probably has.

 

He thinks that maybe he can just sneak to his room unnoticed, but he should know better. The moment he steps inside, Kai’s curious face is immediately shoved in front of his own.

 

“You’re home so late. Does that mean you had fun? What rides did you ride? Oh! Did you win this? It’s so cute. Can I hold him-”

 

Jongin slaps Kai’s hand away when the AI Unit reaches for the bear, giving him a stern look. It does the trick and has him backing away to give Jongin space. Jongin stares at him for a few moments, frowning when all he can see in the back of his mind is Kyungsoo disappointed expression. Once again, he is at a loss at what to say.

 

He rights himself, though. Eyes hardening.

 

“You didn’t tell me he was going to take you to Lotte World.”

 

Kai swallows at Jongin’s sharp tone, looking down. “I just wanted you to have fun.”

 

Jongin takes in how his AI Unit is reacting, deciding he’s too tired to deal with this right now. He sighs deeply. “I did.”

 

“Really?” Kai asks, voice quiet and eyes hopeful as his eyes lock with Jongin’s.

 

“Yeah.” Jongin looks down at the bear in his hands for a few moments. He turns it around, presenting it to Kai. “Here. You should have this. It would have been yours anyway if you went instead.”

 

Kai’s eyes go wide and his lips part. He reaches out hesitantly, pausing for a moment to check if it’s alright. Jongin doesn’t know if he’s just that tired, but he finds himself on the verge of letting himself smile at the way Kai holds the bear like glass.

 

“Kyungsoo won it, so keep it safe.”

 

“I will,” Kai says. He still has curiosity written all over his face and Jongin knows the AI Unit has questions on the tip of his tongue. Surprisingly, though, Kai backs away a little more, the bear in his arms as he presses his chin to the stuffed animal’s soft head. He smiles at Jongin. “Thank you for going... I’ll let you sleep now.”

 

Guilt wells of in the back of Jongin’s throat now, not even allowing him to speak.

 

Kai wouldn’t be thanking him if he knew what Jongin had said to Kyungsoo.

 

Fuck, he’s going to have to explain to Kai that Kyungsoo figured out it wasn’t him too.

 

Jongin holds his head, not even responding to the AI Unit. He walks away, tone dismissive. “I’m going to bed.”

 

“Sleep well, Jongin.”

 

“Whatever.” Jongin’s door shuts behind him and he leans against it for who knows how long just to gather his thoughts.

 

The night was more than Jongin ever thought it would be and for now, for the sake of his sanity, he pushes away the thought of his impending conversation with Kai.

 

Instead, he thinks of Kyungsoo. Of all the shared smiles and giggles under the gentle glow of the park lights. How Kyungsoo’s face lit up after his first sip of hot chocolate, and how he made fun of Jongin when he had gotten whipped cream on his face. Or how they had both so easily fell into quiet silences, not having to keep up a constant conversation and just basking in each other’s presence.

 

Jongin lays back on his bed, holding his hand to his chest as he stares up at his ceiling. He thinks back to the moment when they were on the ferris wheel. At that point, Kyungsoo had to of known he was Jongin, but yet he still continued to be so kind to him. Continues on the whole _date_ with him.

 

Jongin’s heart beats in a steady rhythm. His lips part as he lets out a small breath when he swears he hears Kyungsoo’s sweet voice echo in his ears. It saying how Jongin wasn’t actually a bother to him. How Kyungsoo actually enjoyed being around Jongin now.

 

Jongin’s eyes flutter shut as he thinks that he wouldn't have minded kissing Kyungsoo in that moment. He knows it probably wouldn’t have happened, but just the thought has his hands balling into little fists on the front of his shirt.

 

A soft, easy smile pulls at his lips.

 

He sleeps soundly that night, for once not feeling an ounce of anxiety eating away at his bones.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

H-Hewwo? God it's been a year and I haven't even realized it. In my head, it's only been like 5 months sdfjlnskdjfn. Anyways HELLO. I AM HERE. SPEAKING FROM THE GRAVE. I am _SO_ sorry to all of you who have been waiting for this story to update and still stick by it to this day ;~; I have in no way given up on it and I have everything in an outline up until the very end (meaning the epilogue) haha. I'm hoping to post the next update soon, until then, please take my horrible new chapter and try not to yell at me too much sdfknlsf. I love ya'll. I hope you're all not drowning like I have been lately ;;


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